The places of pedagogy: or, what we can do with culture through intersubjective experiences

Abstract

Beginning by highlighting considerations of the intersections among social and ecological issues and the recent diversification of critical pedagogy, this paper suggests means by which approaches such as Gruenewald’s (2003) “critical pedagogy of place” can be expanded to accommodate a broader range of possible places of pedagogy. The paper is centrally concerned with what happens when we consider socio‐ecological learning, not as occuring via cognitive critique or embodied place‐based experience, but rather as taking place in between the thought and the sensed via a range of intersubjective experiences. It suggests that these intersubjective locations that comprise the “where” of the learning of the student can be particular physical places, but can also be in and of experiences of friendship, art, literature, irony, cultural difference, community. By expanding our possible repertoire of “pedagogical arts,” or the range of intersubjective places and spaces of pedagogy engaged, we are able to conceptualise and practise education in ways that enable a deeper connection to place but also opportunities for other modes and outcomes of student learning. In particular, the paper outlines the possibilities for learning and cultural formation enabled by spaces of collective youth engagement.

Keywords:

• environmental education
• critical pedagogy
• place
• intersubjectivity
• culture

Acknowledgements

I am grateful for the intersubjective experiences provided by the writings of Chet Bowers and David Greenwood (Gruenewald), and also for various collective spaces to connect with them and others thinking about and practising pedagogy. Thank you especially to Phillip Payne, Constance Russell, and Alan Reid for comments and conversations in relation to this paper.

Notes on contributor

Marcia McKenzie is an Assistant Professor in Educational Foundations at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Canada. Her research and teaching interests include education and socio‐cultural practice, youth agency and activism, teacher education, and the politics of social science research. Marcia’s current research centres on a collaborative web‐based project entitled, Discursive Approaches to Teaching and Learning about Social and Ecological Issues, and she is co‐editor of the book Fields of Green: Restorying Culture, Environment, and Education (Hampton in press).