Ecosophy and Educational Research for the Anthropocene: Rethinking Research through Relational Psychoanalytic Approaches

Problematizing the aims of education in the Anthropocene, this text illustrates the value of relational psychoanalytic theory in the study and practice of education amidst the climate crisis.

Illustrating how dominant educational theory fails to acknowledge climate precarity and the consequences of living beyond the Earth’s carrying capacity, Ecosophy and Educational Research for the Anthropocene calls for a reorientation of scholarship to decentre the human subject. The author discusses the evolution of intersubjective psychoanalysis to make a case for a turn to relational and psychoanalytically informed educational research. Chapters foreground areas for educational researchers to consider in pursuing intersubjective inquiries into the affective dimensions of curriculum and pedagogy to foster an emergence of eco-attunement and ecosophical educational research (EER).

By framing an ecosophical approach, this book enables educational leaders, researchers and educators to fulfil their responsibility to engage in educational praxis which is contextually responsive, relationally attuned and recognizant that we cannot be studied apart from our connections to the planet.

Alysha J. Farrell is Associate Professor of Education at Brandon University, Canada.