Merging Eco-Literacy,Visual Poetry,and Arts-Informed Practices: A Curriculum of Eco-Justice Education

Abstract

Writing poetry over finger-paintings that are created with natural dyes is an embodied reflexive practice that can help students connect with ideas about eco-justice as they develop a deeper relationship with the Earth. As Kimmerer (2013) explains, “The exchange between plants and people has shaped the evolutionary history of both” (p. 124). Writing practices also shape who we are becoming. Through the creation of visual poetry, I investigate the importance of engaging with language and landscapes to develop relationships with one another.

Keywords

eco-literacy eco-justice education visual poetry embodied reflexivity arts-informed research

Curatorial Discussion

Creating visual poetry is an expression of embodied reflexivity through the arts. This expression is extended to spaces of social consciousness when it is informed by David Orr’s (1992) research and writing about ecological literacy and environmental learning.

The process of creating visual poetry with the land that supports us cultivates a deep attention to the importance of what Chet Bowers (1993, 2016) calls the commons—places that we use communally. It also encourages us to think more deeply about our engagement with the more-than-human world (Abram, 2006). As an educator whose work spans the arts and eco-consciousness, I use these embodied practices to bring students into the world outdoors with the aim of creating consciousness of sustainable practices and commitment to eco-sustainability. As we wander the landscapes together, we explore how natural dyes created from berries and wild roses can help us create finger painting poems representative of our experiences with/in nature. Recognizing the transformative potential of this eco-artful practice, we investigate how compassion for the Earth is developed through this practice. Writing poetry over the natural dye art is important because this practice allows us to access things deeply held and difficult to express (Lyle & Snowber, 2021). The act of collecting the berries and flowers, making dye, and then creating art helps learners move from sterile cognitive processes to those deeply embodied. These activities, that Borgmann (1992) calls focal practices, connect my pedagogical work with my eco-justice commitments to cultivate eco-literacy with students. In doing so, we connect with the Earth through a pedagogy of landscapes that we share (Kulnieks, 2023; Figure 1 and Table 1).

Figure 1.

Walk the road along the fields.

Table 1.

Thank ecological gifts.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Andrejs Kulnieks

Author Biography

Andrejs Kulnieks is an Assistant Professor with the Curriculum Studies Department at the University of Saskatchewan. His research interests include literacies, eco-poetic inquiry, curriculum theory, language arts, Indigenous environmental studies, eco-justice environmental education, and eco-arts informed practices. His co-edited book with Dan Longboat and Kelly Young (Eds.) is entitled Contemporary Studies in Environmental and Indigenous Pedagogies.

References

Abram

(2006). The spell of the sensuous: Perception and language in a more-than-human world. Vintage Books.

Borgmann

(1992). Crossing the postmodern divide. Chicago University Press.

Bowers

(1993). Education, cultural myths, and the ecological crisis: Toward deep Changes. State University of New York Press.

Bowers

(2016). Digital detachment: How computer culture undermines democracy. Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group.

Kimmerer

(2013). Braiding sweetgrass: Indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge, and the teachings of plants. Milkweed Editions.

Kulnieks. (2023). Walking landscapes of story. Unpublished poetry manuscript.

Lyle

Snowber

(2021). Walking as attunement: Being with/in nature as currere. Journal of the Canadian Association for Curriculum Studies, 18(2), 6–20.

Orr

(1992). Ecological literacy: Education and the transition to a postmodern world. State University of New York Press.