EDUB3724

BB Self study online lecture

Introduction to an ecojustice perspective and ecojustice
education
Article: Kruger, F., Le Roux, A. & Teise, K. 2020. Ecojustice education and communitarianism:
Exploring the possibility for an African ecocommunitarianism. Educational Philosophy and Theory,
52(2), pp.206-216 (EDUB3724 module guide pages 148-159)
Focus on paragraphs 3 – 8 (module guide pages 150-152)

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Learning unit 3 layout and assessment
Online lecture on Collaborate (Climate change and intergenerational responsibility)
Week 5: Self-study online lecture and worksheet on Bb (Ecojustice education)

Online lecture on Collaborate (Ubuntu, ukama and education)

Week 6:
Prepare for LU3 module assessment

Questionmark test (35%)

Available from: 25 Nov @ 08:00 – 26 Nov @ 16:30
1 attempt
2 hours (120 mins) to complete once started

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 Learning unit 3 outcomes

1. Describe the South African education policy directives

2. Describe and evaluate the principles of ecojustice education
and consider the implications thereof for teaching and learning.
3. Consider to what extent the concepts of ecosophy, Ubuntu and
ukama can inform ecojustice education

At the end of the learning unit you are expected to be able to:
• Describe the South African education policy directives in terms of the
environment.
• Describe and evaluate the main principles of ecojustice and ecojustice education
and consider the possible implications thereof for teaching and learning.
• Consider to what extent the concepts of ecosophy, Ubuntu and ukama can inform
ecojustice education in order to promote democratic citizenship and sustainable
communities.

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 An ecojustice
perspective

In the reading that you did during week 5, it was indicated that it is important to be
aware of how teachers are expected to integrate environmental concerns across the
curriculum as per the South African education policy directives. According to these
directives, teachers are expected to integrate environmental education within their
subject teaching by pursuing an inter-disciplinary and integrated approach to
learning. By doing this it is hoped that learners have the opportunity to become
environmentally literate citizens. Given these expectations, the question may be
asked how teachers can adhere to the SA education policy directives. We believe that
an ecojustice education approach offers one way in which these directives can be
met.

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 Social justice and ecological justice
Recognition and building of cultural and ecological diversity

Interdependence

Social justice is interrelated with ecological justice

Ecological crisis Cultural crisis

An ecojustice education approach is based on an ecojustice perspective, so it is

important to understand this first. An ecojustice perspective assumes that for any
community to flourish, cultural and biological diversity should be recognized and
decisions taking within the community should consider the impact on this cultural
and biological diversity. This means that there exists an interdependence between
human communities and the larger ecological communities in which they live. Thus,
human communities are part of the larger ecological systems in which they live and
for humans to live a flourishing live, the ecological system in which they live should
also flourish. If this is the case it means that social justice depends on ecological well-
being. A practical example of this would be having access to clean water. Very often it
is people living in poorer communities next to industrialised areas who do not have
access to clean water due to either industrial or household pollution. In this scenario
the social injustice of not having clean water, which is a guaranteed basic right, will
not be addressed without also addressing the ecological issue, namely water
pollution. Based on an ecojustice perspective we can say that social justice is
interrelated with ecological justice.
As such our ecological problems, such as climate change, is in reality a cultural crisis
that relates to the way in which people have learned to think about and act toward
other people and the environment.

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If the ecological crisis, an by extension climate change, is really a cultural crisis, in
other words the way we think and the actions such thinking produces, we have to
reflect on HOW we think.
According to an ecojustice perspective humans have learned to see themselves as
separate from and superior to the rest of the natural world. This means that humans
see themselves at the top of a hierarchy of the power with certain rights and
privileges. This understanding of our relationship with the environment is
anthropocentric – or a perspective in which humans are the most important or
central thing that exist with the right to do with the environment what they want.
This type of thinking we refer to as value-hierarchised thinking. There is a hierarchy
with those at top of it having the most value. In contrast to this way of thinking we
can understand humans to be part of the larger ecological communities they live in.
This means that humans are not understood as being at the top of a hierarchy of
value, but rather to be part of a network of relations that depend on one another. If
we understand our communities to be dependent on the ecological community of
which we are part the relationship we will have will not be one of domination but
more likely be one of collaboration. This way of thinking about humans and their
place within the larger ecological systems is called an ecocentric perspective. So a
very important aspect of an ecojustice perspective is that it is founded on an

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ecocentric understanding of our relationship to the environment.

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 Analyse root metaphors that inform our thinking and actions

Root metaphors:
Underlying repeated, internalized
Actions and inherently understood
metaphors that we use and that
Thinking
are very often culturally
Worldview dependent. Root metaphors shape
our worldview and values.
Root metaphors
E.g. Technological progress is good.

To take up an ecojustice perspective means one pursues two goals. The first goal is
analytical, namely to analyse the root metaphors that determine our modes of
thinking and the language that we use to think about the relationships we have with
each other and the environment. A root metaphor are repeated and internalized
metaphors we use that shape our worldviews. Examples of root metaphors include
‘survival of the fittest’ or ‘individualism’. We need to ask how our thinking and
language we use enable us to take part in discriminatory and exploitative practices,
and often without us knowing it. For example what actions is possible if we think
about the earth in terms of resources that can be extracted and used for human gain?
In contrast to this what if we think of the earth in terms of being our home? Do these
different words we use, resources and home, make us think differently about our
relationship to the earth and subsequently how we act towards it? So, the first goal of
ecojustice is to critically consider how our ways of thinking and the language that we
use lead to social inequality and ecological degradation.

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 Identifying and promote practices, traditions and knowledge that
recognize the interconnectedness and interdependence.

Commons – resources that belong and affect the whole community.

Cultural commons – cultural resources such a practices, skills and

knowledge used to support mutual well-being within a culture /
community.

Environmental commons – natural resources such as clean air, water,

land, etc. that is needed to sustain life.

The second goal is constructive. This goal is about identifying and promoting
practices, traditions and knowledgew that recognize the interconnectness and
interdependence of humans with each other and with the environment around them.
To do this we have to build on the cultural commons and environmental commons. To
understand this goal it is important to understand the three concepts of the
commons, cultural commons and environmental commons. The commons refer to
resources that belong to and affect a whole community. These are things that are not
privatized or requires money. An example would be a park, or having access to quality
free healthcare or education. The cultural commons refer to the such a practices,
skills and knowledge used to support mutual well-being within a culture / community.
In SA, the idea of ubuntu is a good example of a cultural commons. The
environmental commons refer to those commons that are natural resources such as
clean air, water, land, etc. and that is needed to sustain life. From and ecojustice
perspective then to teach for sustainability would mean pursuing curriculum and
pedagogical relationships that support the local community to flourish by drawing on
the cultural commons and the environmental commons..

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 Working definition
1.a form of justice that recognizes the rights of organisms and
the natural environment; and that builds on
2.the understanding that local and global ecosystems are
essential to all life. Thus, we need to
3. analyse and challenge the deep cultural assumptions [root
metaphors] underlying thinking that undermine those
systems; and
4.Provide alternative ways of thinking that promotes the
cultural and environmental commons.

Based on the information I shared in this PPT we can say that an ecojustice
perspective is a form of justice that recognizes the rights of organisms and the natural
environment; and that builds on the understanding that local and global ecosystems
are essential to all life. Thus we need to analyse and challenge the deep cultural
assumptions [root metaphors] underlying thinking that undermine those systems;
and provide alternative ways of thinking that promotes the cultural and
environmental commons. We believe, that as future teachers, you will have a
fundamental role to play in this.

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 Next….

What is an ecojustice education approach?

What are the six tasks pursued in this approach?

I this PPT I introduced you to an ecojustice perspective. In the next PPT I introduce
you to an ecojustice education approach that is based on and ecojustice perspective.
We will also introduce you with the six tasks that an ecojustice education approach
pursues in order for you to think how this may inform your own sense of purpose and
practice one day.

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