Thinking With Mollusks: Etho-Ecological Encounters in the Intertidal Zones of Bundjalung National Park

• In Event: Philosophical and Methodological Approaches in Environmental Education

Abstract

The concept of ecology has entered into widespread social discourses and imaginaries as concerns associated with climate change and environmental justice have become saturated within the public domain. This paper teases out several trajectories and implications for posthumanist environmental education amidst this ecologisation of contemporary life, drawing on events from a three-day field excursion involving molluscs, ecologists, and university students in the intertidal zones of Bundjalung National Park in NSW, Australia. Building on Stengers’ concept of “etho-ecology”, the author argues that ecology as a scientific practice cannot be disentangled from what it feels like to be in the field, including the affective concerns and sensitivities that arise through mutual encounters between people, nonhuman animals, and their shared milieus.

Author

• David Rousell, RMIT University