Shaping and Being Shaped by Institutional Space: Shadows of Mind, Body, and Relationship in Ecological Activism

• In Event: Roundtable Session 96
  In Roundtable Session: Try and Try Again: Reflections on the Uncertainties of Living Out an Ecological Ethic in Academe

Abstract

This session challenges participants, as well as those in attendance, to explore circumstances where we feel we are riding a thin line between reinscribing problematic norms and pushing for new ways of being/doing that are more consistent with our ecological philosophies.

The challenge is to identify and work through a tension between what we believe and desire, and what we are actually doing in our lives and work. In their theory of action, Argyris and Schön (1974) described this tension as a contrast between “espoused theories” and “theories in use”; within environmental education, recognition of this tension is often referred to as “minding the gap” (Kollmass & Agyeman, 2002). In the academic workplace, the gap between what we say we believe and want, and how we behave as academics, has been described as the toxic environment with serious physical and psychological consequences (Sparkes, 2007). These gaps and tensions have major implications for the work surrounding environmental education as they can expose obstacles and directions for future personal and institutional change.

The gap between what is desired and what is actually done also suggests an ancient human duality and psychological dilemma. From a Jungian perspective, when there is a mismatch between the body’s desire and the body’s action, the result is repression and neurosis. Healing from these afflictions, according to Jungian psychoanalysis, is possible by confronting buried desire, often called shadow work (Jung, 1966). My intent in this paper is to face parts of my shadow; my hope is that by opening to it through inquiry, I will discover what it has to teach—healing wisdom worthy of expression.

The shadow edge I explore through narrative inquiry (Richardson, 2000) is the gap and tension between 1) my efforts to create space within formal institutions of education (schools and universities) for more ecologically conscious ways of being and knowing, and 2) my realization that institutional space blunts my ability to live and learn in ways that nurtures my own ecological consciousness. Within this engulfing gap, I work with shadow inherent in everyday tensions between mind and body; between self and relationships with other people (colleagues, friends, and family); between self in relation to the more-than-human world (Abram, 1996, 2010); and between institutional and de-institutionalized space. Within each of these themes, I experience the paradox of both reproducing problematic norms, and thinking and acting my way into new ways of doing and being.

Data for this arts-informed research (Knowles & Cole, 2008) come from a semester-long record of journal keeping. The main themes emerged from an initial analysis of the data. All themes exist in relationship to the gap between creating institutional space and being created by institutional space. My paper will consist of a short introduction of purpose and methodology, followed by interrelated poetic portraits of the main themes (Pendergast, Leggo & Sameshima, 2009).

Author

• David A. Greenwood, Lakehead University