Deleuzoguattarian Perspectives on Language and Environmental Education: Sustainability or Employability?

• In Event: Posthuman and Postfoundational Perspectives on Teaching and Teacher Education

Abstract

This conceptual paper examines ‘sustainability’ in English education policy documents through posthuman methodologies, problematizing policymakers’ presenting education for the future “green economy” as the solution to climate crisis. Deleuzoguattarian concepts (I.e. refrain and regime of signs) are used to explore how ‘sustainability’ may be reconceptualized to challenge normative assumptions and expose its impact on practice. Situating existing literature in environmental education (cf. Sommerville & Williams, 2015), and building upon posthuman political ecological work (Alaimo, 2016; Cudworth & Hobden, 2018), I suggest alternative perspectives in addressing language affects that greenwash capitalist driven practices in the English national curriculum. As curricula in diverse contexts increasingly focus on sustainability, this paper offers timely distinct perspectives to issues in ‘sustainable’ education, suggesting alternative practices.

Author

• Sarah Evans, Manchester Metropolitan University