Ecological Conversations With Chet A. Bowers (1935–2017) and Ted T. Aoki (1919–2012)

• In Event: Ecologically Intersecting Curriculum Studies With EE Research: 21st Century Implications, Inspirations, and C. A. Bowers

Abstract

In this paper, the author reflects on imagined but potentially generative conversations between Chet Bowers and Ted Aoki. What emerges from Bowers and Aoki’s interactions as situated within the context of print, data, and technology, are both similarities and differences in how Bowers and Aoki each define ecological literacy and the role that language plays in (re)producing culture. While Bowers did not see promise in Western cultures adopting ecologically literate practices, the author brings complementary concepts of Aoki’s curriculum theorizing such as tensionality, bridge which is not a bridge, and the space in-between into the conversation. Here, the author reveals potential discursive connections between ecological perspectives and modernity. In doing so, the author signals the opening of a new theoretical space in which to reconceptualize EE research for current and emergent global challenges.

Author

• Jennifer Susan Thom, University of Victoria