Participate in the creative reconstruction of a language that foregrounds human kinship with nature, using postmodern science fiction as a generative site¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

The authors recommend that educators "participate in the creative teconstruction of language which foregrounds our kinship with naturn" (article's OCR spellings preserved), developing myths and metaphors that sing the earth into existence under urban and late industrial conditions. They identify postmodern science fiction — cyberpunk, feminist SF and graphic novels — as the discourse that may presently provide the most generative site for this reconstruction, rather than the literature of the academy.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Coupling the inspiration of premodern stories with the critical perspectives of poststructural thought, without appropriating another culture's metanarratives

Constraints¶

• The authors state we cannot and should not attempt to replace our own metanarratives with those of another culture, since our involvement with nature is mediated by mechanical, biochemical and cybernetic technologies

Target Learners¶

• environmental educators
• curriculum scholars

Target Learning Goals¶

• reconstructing human-earth relationships
• accepting the creation of meaning in the world as a human and communal responsibility

Affordances¶

Related Strategies¶

• Intentionally activate symbols so they assist transformative learning
• Creative Writing

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Gough, Noel; Kesson, Kathleen. (1992). Body and Narrative as Cultural Text: Toward a Curriculum of Continuity and Connection. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED347544