Downstream River Dialogues: An Educational Journey Toward a Planetary-Scaled Ecological Imagination - subvert nature/culture divides with more-than-human dialogue

Oct 15, 2026

This article challenges the nature/culture and subject/object separations that shape dominant Western educational research, using an expanded “more-than-human” narrative mode to activate ecological imagination amid intensifying anthropogenic climate change. Grounded in animist ecofeminist philosophies, the river dialogues arose from a climate action field trip to the Athabasca oil sand mines in Alberta, Canada. The study argues that learning and dialogue with the nonhuman world remain possible, stimulating ecological imagination despite Western epistemological separations.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages31

Reading Time1 h 18 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Purpose

Design/Approach/Methods

Findings

Originality/Value

Narrative and Educational Argument

Downstream River Dialogues: An Educational Journey Toward a Planetary-Scaled Ecological Imagination Affrica Taylor University of Canberra ECNU Review of Education 2020, Vol. 3(1) 107–137 ª The Author(s) 2020 Article reuse guidelines: [sagepub.com/journals-permissions](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[ ](sagepub.com/journals-permissions)[DOI: 10.1177/2096531120905194](DOI: 10.1177/2096531120905194)[ ](DOI: 10.1177/2096531120905194)[journals.sagepub.com/home/roe](journals.sagepub.com/home/roe) Abstract Purpose: This article aims to subvert the nature/culture and subject/object divides that structure the dominant Western educational research paradigm by stepping beyond an exclusively human conversation and activating our ecological imaginations in the face of intensifying anthropogenic climate change. Design/Approach/Methods: Informed by animist ecofeminist philosophies, the river dialogues emerged from a climate action research field trip to the Athabasca oil sand mines in Alberta, Canada. They perform a “more-than-human” mode of narrative engagement with “nature in the active voice.” Findings: Despite the epistemological separations of Western-style education, I conclude that we can still find ways to dialogue and learn with the nonhuman world and thereby to stimulate our ecological imaginations. Originality/Value: This article showcases innovative more-than-human narrative methods and offers a collaborative alternative to the human-centric conventions of educational research and pedagogy. Corresponding author: Affrica Taylor, Centre for Creative and Cultural Research, University of Canberra, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia. Email: [affrica.taylor@canberra.edu.au](affrica.taylor@canberra.edu.au) Creative Commons Non Commercial CC BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License ([https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages ([https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage](https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage)). Keywords Climate action pedagogies, ecofeminist philosophy, ecological imagination, more-than-human dialogue, shadow places, Val Plumwood Date received: 1 August 2019; accepted: 10 December 2019 If our species does not survive the ecological crisis, it will probably be due to our failure to imagine and work out new ways to live with the earth, to rework ourselves and our high energy, high-consumption, and hyper-instrumental societies adaptively .. . We will go on in a different mode of humanity, or not at all. Val Plumwood (2007a) The task of rethinking our interdependent futures beyond the horizons of the modern Western paradigm necessarily involves shifting educational research beyond the human-centric preoccupations and structuring Cartesian dualisms that stunt our research imaginations (Silova & Rappleye, 2015; Silova et al., 2020) . This is because the dualisms that pervade the research methods and pedagogies of modern Western-style education entrap us within the bifurcating business-as-usual of setting all-knowing human subjects apart from known-about others (human and nonhuman) . In the process of separating humans off from the rest of the world, dualistic thinking reiterates the presumption of exclusive and autonomous human subjectivity and agency and obfuscates how all lives, fates, and futures (including those of the nonhuman) are mutually determining and entangled. These same structuring dualisms and human-centric preoccupations have even more dire implications in these precarious times of cascading geo/biospheric earth systems collapses. Central to these collapses are anthropogenic global warming and mass extinctions, which have been brought about

FAQs

What is the main purpose of the article?

The article aims to unsettle the nature/culture and subject/object divides that organize dominant Western educational research, by engaging ecological imagination beyond an exclusively human conversation.

How did the “river dialogues” emerge in the study?

The river dialogues were developed through a climate action research field trip to the Athabasca oil sand mines in Alberta, Canada, informed by animist ecofeminist philosophies.

What conclusions does the article reach?

Despite epistemological separations in Western-style education, the article concludes that dialogue and learning with the nonhuman world can be pursued, helping to stimulate ecological imaginations.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by LangkahRina