Racial Equity in Outdoor and Environmental Education: Relational Accountability and White Innocence

• In Event: Racial Politics of Outdoor and Environmental Education

Abstract

Outdoor experiential environmental education (OEEE) is a pervasively white and colonial space. In consultation with community stakeholders, the OSU Extension Outdoor School program developed self-evaluation tools to help outdoor education providers assess the cultural responsiveness of their organizations and programming. The ‘subjects’ of our research were, originally, our colleagues. However, it became clear during data analysis that we, the authors/researchers, may have evaded the responsibilities forwarded in these tools. We then asked: In what ways did we, as researchers/facilitators, lean in and embrace the responsibilities and commitments related to cultural responsiveness? In what ways did we avoid or evade them? We turned our analysis within and considered our impact (e.g., own words, actions, decisions, and policies).

Authors

• Spirit Brooks, Oregon State University

• Steven Braun, Oregon State University

• Kristi Backe, Oregon State University

• Kristopher Michael Elliott, Oregon State University

• Charissa V. Jones, Oregon State University

• Maya Revell, University of Oregon