SEAE Seminar Series: Education in a more-than-human world

“Education in a more-than-human world: Radical relationality and thinking with rivers" with Dr Scott Jukes, Lecturer in Outdoor and Environmental Education at Federation University.

Date: 10 July 2024

Time: 11:00am to 12:00pm NSW time

Abstract

Rivers have an allure, a gravitational pull that positions us in particular ways, that orients us towards them and can draw us downstream (Morse, 2014). But is this something that is in our heads? Or is this something that emerges from the topography? Maybe mind and river coalesce with the water, our thinking funnelled, as it flows towards the ocean? For me, I’m not just interested in rivers, I’m fascinated, enchanted. There is something outside myself that grabs hold and pulls me in. What is this draw? Macfarlane (2013) suggests that landscapes provide a habitat for particular modes of thinking. But there is something more here, a thread to keep pulling at. This presentation provides a partial unravelling of this thread, exploring thinking beyond the brain and processes of cognition that think with the world.

This project works with an emergent methodology of thinking with things (Jukes, 2023) to explore ideas of thinking with places, and in this case, riverscapes. ‘Thinking with’ implies skilfully extending our thinking beyond the brain, outside our skulls, and engaging external materials and entities in the co-constitution of thought. It acknowledges more-than-human relations in our surrounds and follows the flow of those relations. And in this way, the places we go matter – inescapably affecting the qualities and nature of thought. What might this mean for education in a more-than-human world? What might such considerations do in the face of ecological precarity?

References

Jukes, S. (2023). Emergent environmental education inquiry: A methodology of thinking with things. In: White, P., Tytler, R., Ferguson, J., & Cripps Clark., J. (Eds) Contemporary Approaches to Research in Mathematics, Science, Health & Environmental Education Volume 4 – Chapter 11 pp. 249-266. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Macfarlane, R. (2013). The old ways: A journey on foot. London: Penguin.

Morse, M. (2014). A quality of interrelating: describing a form of meaningful experience on a wilderness river journey. Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning, 14:1, 42-55, DOI: 10.1080/14729679.2013.769713

Biography

Scott Jukes is a lecturer in Outdoor and Environmental Education at Federation University. Always drawn to rivers and mountains, Scott loves sharing his love for these places in his teaching and research. His research deploys relational and post-anthropocentric approaches for developing pedagogies which grapple with environmental problems. Scott recently authored the book Learning to confront ecological precarity: Engaging with more-than-human worlds. He also recently received a Vice-Chancellor’s Learning and Teaching Award for his development of innovative place-responsive curricula which enhanced student learning and experience.

The direct Zoom link will be emailed on registration.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Kind regards,

Professor Amy Cutter-Mackenzie (SEAE Research Leader; Executive Dean), Professor Alexandra Lasczik (SEAE Deputy Research Leader), and the Sustainability, Environment, and the Arts in Education (SEAE) Research Centre, Faculty of Education, Southern Cross University