A critical pedagogy of place: from gridlock to parallax

A deeper meaning of place

“…A shift within place-based and critical pedagogies is occurring -a progression towards a closer realization of a multi-dimensional framework of place applied in place-based and environmental education. Greenwood (2008) mentions the commonalities between critical pedagogy and Bowers' own work in what is yet another chance to open dialogue rather than listening to the creaky door of debate closing before we enter. The socio-ecological crossroads of critical pedagogy and place-based education continue to present fertile ground for dialogue on transformation within communities and how grassroots initiatives and educational processes may cultivate that dialogue.…”

“…A phenomenological perspective in the rich tradition of Husserl, Merleau-Ponty, Moustakas and others would ensure that a 'thick description' is achieved at a local and intergenerational level, one that would offer common ground in this discourse and enable a moving forward along what may be a rocky yet evolutionary path. Rather than semantic 'gridlock' (Greenwood 2008) then, a deeper look into the phenomenological application of a critical pedagogy of place could be yet another step towards a wider acceptance and further integration of socially engaged pedagogy and critical theory within the field of environmental education. To find out more about this conference strand and the current call for presentations go to: http://www.naaee.org/conference/call-for-presentations/call-for-presentations.…”

Editorial

“…As Bowers (2008) (and others) suggest, textualism simply fails to contain or capture all the nuances of a place and what informs or deforms their realities (historically, politically, environmentally, economically, culturally, etc). Thus, conceptually colonising, commodifying, homogenising, pedestrianising or ossifying places and their traditions must be resisted: to avoid narrowing, simplifying, impoverishing or emptying them of their processes, particularities, meanings, potentials, differences and significance (see Greenwood, 2008).…”

“…To that end, firstly, as befits discussions of place, it might be argued that each paper offers its own map of the terrain: in this case, most literally, of literatures, readings, imperatives and experiences across various times and spaces. For Smith (2008), the mapping might appear to be largely a matter of why and how one goes about the rectification of terms, for Greenwood (2008), whether pursuit of a parallax view diffuses the sense of the oxymoronic identified by Bowers (2008), for McKenzie (2008), the necessity and opportunities for breaking down dichotomies between conceptual critique (decolonization) and place-based experience (reinhabitation), and for Stevenson (2008), mindfulness of the dynamics of the junctures and disjunctures of juxtaposing locally place-based education and critical pedagogy.…”

Imagination and the Cognitive Tools of Place-Making

“…We therefore regard a theory of imaginative education as a contribution to the emerging tradition of critical place-based education (Bowers, 2008;Greenwood, 2008;MacKenzie, 2008;Morehouse, 2008;Smith, 2008;Stevenson, 2008), as well as an extension of the literature on ecological imagination (Daloz, 2004;Jardine, 1998;Judson, 2008Judson, , 2010Kentel & Karrow, 2010;Orr, 1994Orr, , 2002O'Sullivan & Taylor, 2004). The model we propose here is intended to assist teachers in bringing imagination to the fore of their teaching, something they may not tend to do in any systematic way, given its marginal place in dominant approaches to teacher development (Chodakowski, 2009).…”