Posthuman Education for Children: Fostering Pro-Environmental Behavior and Horse-Human Interactions.

• In Event: Learning With Place and Nature in Posthuman Environmental Education

Abstract

The animal and posthuman turn in environmental education highlights the increasing interest in deconstructing settled expectations of nature-culture, and human-animal relations. Through recognizing more-than-human animals’ personhood, people become more committed to engage in practices of care for and protection of the natural world. Engaging with posthumanism and critical pedagogies, I designed an activity centered around horse-human interactions through the discourse of Natural Horsemanship to promote the recognition of the horse’s personhood. Seven participants interacted with horses and engaged in practices of home etiquette, monologue to dialogue, and permission to approach and touch which led to a recognition of the horse’s personhood. This study illustrates the potential of horse-human interactions for environmental education.

Author

• Emmeline Hoogland, Simon Fraser University