Lived experiences of being-in-the-forest as experiential sharing with the more-than-human world

Abstract

This article considers human embodied relationships with the morethan-human world, in the Swedish forest context, and through a phenomenological approach. The research focuses on lived experiences of being-in-the-forest, starting in the author's experiences, using walk-andtalk conversations as inquiry process with study participants. Analysis reveals that (a) childhood experiences seem to play a crucial role in adult experiences of forests; (b) place-identity and sense of belonging are significant elements in how the participants define themselves; (c) being-in-the-forest is connected to an active, exploring and moving body and that the connection with the more-than-human world of the case study forest is deeply anchored as part of the human body. This relationship appears to be shaped through a process of constructing and reconstructing memories, practice and selfhood, and can, it seems, last a lifetime. In the long term, such relationships could have a positive impact on human connections to the more-than-human world.

Being in the forest—A matter of cultural connections with a natural environment

“…However, through this questionnaire my purpose was to locate respondents in the natural forest setting to find those who have experiences relating to the phenomenon that I wanted to research. The questionnaire was my first data gathering exercise, which was followed by walk‐and‐talk interviews, which are presented in a forthcoming article (Häggström, ).…”

Nature’s Services and Contributions: The Relational Value of Childhood Nature Experience and the Importance of Reciprocity

“…Further research is needed to understand the mechanisms by which child nature experience carries over into adulthood (Rosa and Collado, 2019). Evidence from our work and authors from a growing number of countries, however, suggest that the embodied aspect of child nature experiences has a fundamental role to play (Kals et al, 1999;Wells and Lekies, 2006;Hsu, 2009;Chawla and Derr, 2012;Lekies and Beery, 2013;Beery and Jørgensen, 2016;Lekies et al, 2017;Asah et al, 2018;Beery and Lekies, 2018;Evans et al, 2018;Hosaka et al, 2018;Rosa et al, 2018;Häggström, 2019;Jensen and Olsen, 2019;Rosa and Collado, 2019). Abson et al (2016) noted that connectedness to nature and the subsequent care and concern for the larger ecosystem that it evokes might be a strong leverage point to transform a socio-ecological system toward a desirable, resilient, and sustainable future.…”

A pedagogia waldorf e a educação ambiental

“…A educação ambiental tem um papel importante para construção de uma abordagem ecocêntrica (HÄGGSTRÖM, 2019;OLIVEIRA, 2017;JORGENSEN;MARTINY-BRUUN, 2019;PAYNE, 2017), na qual as experiências das crianças com o meio ambiente se tornam significativas e tem a possibilidade de transcender um mero manual de comportamentos. Para que esse processo seja posto em prática, é recomendável que consideremos a educação ambiental de maneira transversal entre as diversas atividades escolares em uma perspectiva de não fragmentação entre a ética~estética~política (PAYNE, 2017).…”