Young authors & the Anthropocene: what story books reveal about the place-ecological meaning constructed by schoolchildren of Chennai

Abstract

This small study reveals the value of story writing as a pedagogical technique in environmental education. The qualitative research conducted in 2020 examines 14 Indian children’s place-ecological meaning as expressed in the story books they authored. Thematic analysis of the story books, interviews, journals, creative writing assignments & group discussion revealed that the children’s outdoor nature experiences shaped their place-ecological meaning and inspired a striking critique of the necropolitical-geontopolitical Anthropocene regime in local contexts. Children’s sense of marginalization forged empathy with the more-­than-human, fostering feelings collective identities and resistance, despite muted agency. The research emphasizes that environmental education program should not only build awareness and conscientization among participants but also provide opportunities for expression of meaning-making. The significance of the research lies in it bringing children’s voices to the fore as they attempt to examine the Anthropocene from their experiences of local ecologies and places in Chennai, India.

Keywords:

• place-ecological meaning
• children’s stories
• Anthropocene
• Indian children
• posthumanism

Acknowledgements & note

The child is the mother of woman, and we hope to raise the heirs to the current batch of Multispecies scholars, whom we thank, the Haraways, the Roses, the Sinhas, the Kirkseys, the Helmreichs, along with the wonderful folks we became-with during out time at Adyar Poonga and at the small, alternative school they had attended.

Disclosure statement of funding

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in Mendeley Data at https://data.mendeley.com/datasets/mrp5bj3szw/1

Additional information

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.