This thematic issue reflects some discussions of the study-circle in Nordic Summer University (NSU): Futures of Education, Cultural Diversity, Imaginations and Collective Transformations in Time of the Anthropocene (2021-2023). The study-circle appeared as a synthesis of two previous circles: Learning and Bildung in Times of Globalisation and Patterns of Dysfunction in Contemporary Democracies; Impact on … Continue reading Introductory Note
Read More...The paper presents the theoretical framework for the use of role-playing games (RPG) to foster and motivate ecoliteracy. First, we discuss previous work on the uses of RPGs in relation to environmental education. Then we introduce the practice theoretical perspective grounding our approach. This is followed by a brief consideration of theories of motivation, as we seek to leverage this drive through playful and co-creative processes via the use of an open-ended RPG. Finally, we lay out the principles guiding our work, followed by some reflections of the results of the first pilot-test of the game.
Read More...The Anthropocene has proven to be an epoch that is shaped by protest and resistance. It therefore makes sense to approach an anthropology of resistance on the basis of historical examples. The historian and demonstrative anti-soldier Erdmann, the Danish journalist Bergstrøm and the Croatian Jew and resistance fighter Goldstein – each of them had to deal with ambivalence and repression during the German National Socialist occupation and ended up in the resistance. In contrast to the right-wing techniques of blocking and insulting that are common today, the three stood up for a humanistic and liberal form of resistance.
Read More...This article draws from the Japanese phenomenological approach (Kyoto School, particularly Kitaro Nishida and Watsuji Tetsurō) concerning the embodied experience of time-space. It unravels crucial concepts behind Möbius Strip, a mixed-media performance along the way with a particular focus on peripeteia. Having been triggered by the current warfare in Ukraine, Möbius Strip deals with the phenomenon of war.
The aim of this article is to disentangle the meaning of peripeteia as a term in a concrete fashion by identifying its role and impact in the dramaturgy of Möbius Strip. The term is further circumscribed under a comparative point of view, which narrates peripeteia as a term that is primarily encountered in Ancient Greek tragedy and unravels its connection with cognate terms from Asian tradition.
This paper aims to scope the nature-human relationship in the Anthropocene, the era which is marked by man’s presence as a factor of climate and environmental changes. It is viewed from an educational perspective, considering environmentalist and Marxist viewpoints regarding the question of man and nature. The research of The Epic of Gilgamesh and the ancient Indian epic Bhagavad-Gita underlines the substantial difference between these two perspectives, considering the appearance of man in the historical field as a distinctive aspect. In that sense, literature’s transformative strength, articulated through artistic representations, reshapes human existence, erasing cultural separation between nature and man.
Read More...The first part of this article analyses key problems in the Norwegian educational system in properly dealing with the crises in the Anthropocene. The root of the problem is an epistemology where man and nature are seen as dual realities, not poles in a polarity. The second part discusses imagination in the theories of Coleridge and Tolkien. Through imagination the gap in the polarity can be bridged through the symbol, leading to a better relation to nature – where nature is seen as “an other”, not an “it”. The role this can have in education is briefly discussed in the end.
Read More...The Anthropocene is an ideological notion that establishes a false idea of a human-nature conflict. This abstract opposition conceils the complexity of how we understand human. The article suggests a change of focus from discussing what we do to the environment to what we do to understand what it is to be human which has consequences for our relation to the world. Instead of the Anthropocene reductionist understanding of the human-nature divide we should look at the activities that have defined who are considered human and what this does to the relation to the environment.
Read More...This essay examines the evolution of sustainable development and the formulation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG2030). It traces the historical roots post-WWII, highlighting the tensions between sustainability and economic growth. Key events like the Stockholm Conference (1972), Brundtland Report (1987), and Rio Summit (1992) are discussed, alongside themes such as neoliberalism’s impact and counter-discourses on capability and commons. The essay also covers the transition from Agenda21 and the Millennium Development Goals to the 17 SDGs, emphasizing the need for an analytical framework. Lastly, it addresses the integration of culture, the Anthropocene, environmental humanities, and education in sustainable development.
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