Southern African Journal of Environmental Education

Participatory video as protest methodology: Student activists reaffirm the social dimension of sustainability in South African universities

2023-11-20T13:28:04+00:00

In this article, we unpack the motifs of two participatory videos created by 12 African student activists at the University of the Free State, who were co-researchers in the ‘Universities as Sustainable Communities’ project (2021-2023). While one video highlights the importance of activism and collective action, the other underscores the values of togetherness and unity for transforming universities into sustainable communities. Both videos demonstrate what is possible when students are enabled, through participatory research, to exercise their political, epistemic and narrative capabilities and agency freedom in a different way. Importantly, the motifs echo the principles espoused in the African moral philosophy of Ubuntu and the African political philosophy of Ujamaa to reaffirm the importance of the social dimension of sustainability in South African universities.

Keywords: universities, student activists, participatory research, social sustainability

Donna J. Haraway’s ecofeminism revisited: Critical new materialist pedagogies for Anthropocenic crisis times

2023-10-31T13:08:37+00:00

By bringing feminist science studies scholar Donna J. Haraway’s A manifesto for cyborgs (1985) and Situated knowledges (1988) in line with contemporary critical new materialist thought (see Colman & Van der Tuin, 2024; Dolphijn & Van der Tuin, 2012; Geerts, 2022), this critical pedagogical and philosophical think piece tackles the problematic of Anthropocenic disruptions of the planetary biosphere for critical pedagogies and higher education (also see Carstens, 2016). It additionally encourages its readers to think through their own pedagogical conceptions and praxes by means of irruptive (Geerts & Carstens, 2024; Koro-Ljungberg, 2015) selfreflection- stimulating questions. Our situated – and thus limited and open-ended – response to this all-encompassing Anthropocenic crisis is rooted in a rethinking of Harawayan cyborgian and situated knowledges and the critical pedagogical lessons drawn from the latter. Rereading Haraway’s work through contemporary critical new materialist and related scholarship reveals that it already contained an ecofeminist onto-epistemological shift toward more-than-human agency and relationality. This shift has major consequences for all things critical pedagogical and educational, as our pedagogical thinking-doings are deeply embedded in today’s crisis-ridden lifeworld. This rereading exercise furthermore underlines the necessity of an updated critical new materialist pedagogical praxis for learning and teaching, inspired by Harawayan ecofeminism, that takes the entanglements between human, dehumanised, and more-than-human actors seriously.

Keywords: Anthropocene, critical new materialisms, critical pedagogies, Donna J. Haraway, ecofeminism, eco-environmental, (higher) education, irruptive methodology

'The land has become empty': The climate crisis, Somali nomadic pastoralists and livestock enclosures

2023-10-11T13:12:02+00:00

This paper contributes to scholarship on climate change education and action, sustainability, co-production, nomadic pastoralism, livestock enclosures and Somalia. It does so by examining the nomadic pastoralist practice in Somalia of cutting down bushes and trees to create livestock enclosures. It shows that the climate crisis is making this practice unsustainable. The qualitative research methods used were literature reviews, situated knowledges and lived experiences, co-production, survey interviews and focus group discussions. The project was designed as an exercise in climate change education and action which integrates scientific and indigenous and local knowledge. The approach used enable an understanding of why enclosures are used and therefore what factors have to be considered in moving towards more sustainable practices that contribute to effective climate action. The paper reports a potentially valuable reforestation climate action generated from the nomadic pastoralist community: livestock enclosures made from living trees.

Implementing learner-centred approaches for sustainable futures in the teaching of social studies in Malawian secondary schools

2023-11-24T07:43:16+00:00

The Malawi government introduced Social Studies in 1995 as a subject to develop active citizenship skills, and transferable skills in learners for democratic living an sustainable livelihoods. Furthermore, in 2015, the Ministry of Education reformed the secondary school curriculum from teacher-centred to student-centred. The goal was to improve the quality of education. The objectives of Social Studies are to allow learners to make decisions and carry out activities to improve their quality of life and empower learners to develop an understanding of their instantaneous environments. Since the adoption of the new curriculum, little research has been conducted to explore how secondary school teachers implement learner-centred methods, hence the focus of this article. The study used progressivism educational philosophy and associated learning theory which focuses on learner-centred, experiential learning as its framework. Three categories of public secondary schools were involved namely national, conventional, and community day schools. A qualitative design was employed. Data were generated using documents, interviews, and observations. Findings indicated that Social Studies teachers could use learnercentred approaches, though with some challenges. The study concluded that Social Studies teachers are capable of using learner-centred approaches successfully if given sufficient support such as adequate textbooks and other learning materials. The researchers noted that there is a need to provide adequate teaching and learning materials in secondary schools.

Keywords: sustainable educational futures, learner-centred approaches, social studies, progressivism educational philosophy

Growing ‘tools for conviviality’: Exploring the transformative potential of urban gardening initiatives in Indian cities

2023-10-31T19:47:42+00:00

One of the major setbacks of humans dwelling in urbanised spaces is a huge disconnect between humans and the ecosystems that sustain them. To counter this challenge in specific ways, a growing awareness about industrial food production and consumption patterns, along with a need to create alternatives have given rise to a range of small-scale food growing initiatives in urban areas. In India, as urban spaces with uneven geographies and socio-economic realities are rapidly growing, we are faced with challenges food security and sovereignty. This article offers some preliminary insights into the varied motivations, constraints and possibilities that inspire urban gardening practices in Indian cities. Specifically, the article seeks to formalise some aspects of urban gardening in India via the following questions: 1) what kinds of practices and perspectives are embedded in urban gardening initiatives?, and 2) how can greater civic participation be nurtured through these practices and associated ideas? Based on a qualitative study involving practitioners, we argue that community gardening can be an important way to motivate people to re-establish connections with ecosystems. However, sustained transformations in urban spaces and food systems require supportive public policies, infrastructure and social acceptability. In conclusion, we emphasise the need to build on convivial structures such as community gardening initiatives as an educative social practice to traverse the journey from personal motivations to political commitments towards ecological flourishing.

Keywords: urban gardening, conviviality, community practices, motivation

Indigenous and local knowledge and climate education: Co-producing a Somali language course on climate change

2023-10-30T17:43:57+00:00

This article contributes to scholarship on the role of Indigenous and Local knowledge (ILK) in climate education. It presents a case study of the co-production of a Somali language extra-curricular course on climate change. The qualitative research methods used were literature reviews, participant observation, decolonial co-production and combining ILK with scientific knowledge. The article shows that climate education is enhanced by inclusion of ILK to complement scientific content. It does so by analysing the climate course in relation to key measures of effective climate education (informing about causes and impacts in ways that are relevant to the audience; using messengers trusted by the audience; using communication channels accessible to the audience; and informing the audience about climate solutions and motivating action to realise them). The article offers suggestions for enhancing the value and impact of the course, especially in terms of adding content about the efforts of fossil fuel companies to delay climate action and about what a just transition might look like.

Keywords: Indigenous and local knowledge, climate education, climate change, co-production, Somali language