A new article authored by Johanna Hohenthal and Tuija Veintie was published open access as part of a special issue ‘Education and Socio-environmental Justice in the Pluriverse’ in the journal Globalizations.
The article focuses on place-based learning and analyses how diverse learning spaces allow the Indigenous youth in Ecuadorian Amazonia to engage with diverse knowledges on socio-environmental issues. The study draws from interviews, participatory mapping and photography done with and by students in three intercultural bilingual upper secondary schools in the Pastaza province of Ecuadorian Amazonia. The field work was carried out in collaboration between the Nordic and Ecuadorian researchers/university students and supported by the Goal4+ project and the Universidad Estatal Amazónica based in Puyo.
‘The findings suggest that young people’s daily embodied experiences, family life, and community meetings offer rich grounds for learning about local socio-environmental issues, Indigenous knowledge, and cosmovision (worldview). However, in the intercultural bilingual upper secondary schooling, socio-environmental issues are discussed mostly as detached global phenomena, while more explicit connections to local issues and knowledge would contribute to pluriversalizing education and supporting students’ territorial ties and critical socio-environmental consciousness.’
Hohenthal, J. & Veintie, T (2022). Fostering Indigenous young people’s socio-environmental consciousness through place-based learning in Ecuadorian Amazonia. Globalizations. DOI: 10.1080/14747731.2022.2038831