Pedagogies of Democracy and Ecology Across Community Gardens in the Brooklyn Queens Land Trust

• In Event: Saturday Roundtable Session 9:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: Critical Pedagogy and the Challenges of Contemporaneity (Table 27)

Abstract

A growing subfield is being cultivated at the intersection of praxis in local climate resilience and critical theory in cities. Studying in partnership with community gardens across the Brooklyn Queens Land Trust, which were founded in and by majority Black and Latinx neighborhoods, this investigation asks after and reveals strong correlations between these garden’s democratic practices, ecological literacy, and critical pedagogy. Using the framework of participatory action research, this study bases its methodology in historical inquiry, surveys, interviews, and geospatial analysis, with community-specific findings gesturing toward theories of ‘ecopedagogy’ as a focus for further exploration. This study highlights specific examples of ways people learn to be in community with one another and our environment.

Author

• Dee W. Perry, New York University