The purpose of this study is to provide a feminist poststructuralist analysis of the dominant international discourses in environmental education, and how these have been realised in Australian national statements and in state policies over the past two decades, in terms of their implicit views about science, the environment, epistemology and education.
The methodology of the study presents an argument for a 'politics of method' in the form of a research approach which reflects the ideology and intent of the study, i.e. an argument toward feminist poststructuralism as a methodology, but with elements of critical feminist research. Part of this methodology involves consideration of the gendered nature of language and discourses, particularly in the sciences. The argument is for the reconstituting of knowledge through feminist standpoint theory and the adoption of standards of 'strong objectivity'.
In the spirit of its poststructuralist methodology the study presents three different stories (archaeologies) about environmental education: one told in terms of people, events and their outcomes; one told in terms of the changing views of education and how these were interpreted in environmental education; and the third told in terms of the emergence of ecofeminism as a parallel movement to environmental education and the emerging relationship between these two movements. These stories serve two purposes: to review the relevant literature in these three areas, and to provide the 'data' for later chapters.
The discourses of environmental education, particularly those of the 'founders' and UNESCO documents, are then analysed from a poststructuralist perspective, followed by a feminist reconstruction of environmental education which argues for thinking from women's and other marginalized lives as a preferred strategy for environmental education, and develops research principles to explore this possibility. The conclusion reflects on the philosophical and theoretical issues engaged, and the methodological issues addressed, in the study.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/217254 |
| Date | January 1994 |
| Creators | Gough, Annette, annette.gough@deakin.edu.au |
| Publisher | Deakin University. |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | http://www.deakin.edu.au/disclaimer.html), Copyright Annette Gough |
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