Identifying I-Kiribati Youth's Perceptions and Future Visions on Climate Change Education

• In Event: Responding to the Climate Crisis: Decolonial Imaginaries and Regenerative Education

Proposal

Context

As the devastating effects of climate change persist, one of the most vulnerable nations to this crisis is the nation of Kiribati, comprising 32 atolls and islands and amassing around 800 square kilometers of land (Liyanage, 2022). The nation is facing potential extinction over the course of the next century, as sea levels will eventually rise above its average elevation of around 2 meters (Maekawa et. al., 2019; Ray, 2019). Furthermore, modernization has led to water degradation, agricultural difficulties, and financial disparities (Thomas, 2002; Kuruppu, 2009).

Literature Review and Theoretical framework

During my studies as a Master’s student in International Education Policy, I have developed a keen interest for decolonization, Indigenous knowledge, and climate change education. Kiribati is an important nation of focus for these topics, considering it is in one of the most vulnerable positions for extinction from climate change within the next century.

The legacies of British colonization remain prominent in their education system, with high significance placed upon English language instruction, westernized curriculums, and preserving colonial power structures (Burnett, 1999). Current federal policies further I-Kiribati dependency on core countries like Fiji, Australia, and New Zealand. For example, the federal policy of “migration with dignity” aims to encourage I-Kiribati to seek employment abroad while still maintaining their cultural identity (Maekawa et. al., 2019). Furthermore, their prominent fishing sector is used as a negotiation tool to export their labor abroad, in hopes that this foreign income will be shared with the community (Voigt-Graf & Kagan 2017). Meanwhile, I-Kiribati living on its most populous island of Tarawa build climate-safe infrastructure and preserve their native language despite federal initiatives to globalize. Most teachers and students still use the I-Kiribati language in class as a means of maintaining community solidarity (Liyanage, 2022).

Research shows that there are numerous possibilities for Kiribati to build self-sufficiency by re-indigenizing and investing in their agricultural and hydraulic engineering sectors (Thomas, 2002). This would improve access to clean water and strengthen the diversity of their natural resources. It would also decrease national dependency on foreign imports, which would alleviate malnutrition and open the door to alternative methods of development that strengthen cultural and financial solidarity. However, popular I-Kiribati opinions and attitudes pedestal colonial values of globalization over the re-indigenizing of resources and community self-sufficiency (Thomas, 2002; Kuruppu, 2009). While I-Kiribati are very knowledgeable of the climate crises that face their home, the country’s colonial context prevent I-Kiribati from acquiring the formal know-how, time, and energy to commit to sustainable development practices (Thomas, 2002). This calls into question the role of the education system in developing curriculum that educates and motivates students to strengthen the nation’s self-sufficiency and sustainable development.

This study draws on Dependency Theory, which perceives colonization as a catalyst to a perpetual dependent relationship between the colonized “periphery” countries and the colonizer “core” countries (Martinez-Vela, 2001). In this context, Kiribati is a peripheral country highly dependent on imports and economic aid from core countries and organizations. This in turn leads to a culturally-disconnected westernized education system, a less diverse agricultural profile, income disparities, and a rejection of Indigenous knowledge frameworks.

Methodology

This study aims to explore I-Kiribati secondary school students’ dreams, visions, and understandings for national solidarity and sustainability. In doing so, a framework will be developed to advise curriculum development on sustainable education. Secondary school participants will be recruited and work as a focus group to design a vision board to create a collective vision of a self-sufficient Kiribati. Students will be probed with questions that will have them consider how I-Kiribati would secure necessary resources, engage in cultural, linguistic, and religious practices, and financially sustain themselves in an ideal future. Each participant will have a chance to draw/write something on the vision board correlating to the themes of natural resources, culture, and economics as these themes are introduced through lines of questioning. Students will also be encouraged to add their own ideas as a response to their peers’ additions to the vision board, creating a collective vision of Kiribati as a framework for their generation’s hopes and dreams. Once this vision board is created, participants will be asked to consider how their education system should be structured in order to accommodate their collective vision.

In order to draw the most authentic responses from the focus group participants, the study will center on the I-Kiribati research method of taona tabon inaim. This interview methodology translates to “sitting on the edge of a mat,” placing the researcher as a “guest” in the I-Kiribati home, and giving respect and authority over the conversation to the participants (Korauaba, 2012). This framework paired with Youth Participatory Action Research (YPAR) will give the participants the space and autonomy to explore their collective imagination as it concerns their nation’s future (UC Berkeley, n.d.). In doing this, this study aims not only to conduct research, but to liberate and empower the youth participants to become active members of their communities and to fight for the change that they want to see. I will conduct the study toward the end of 2023, and then conduct preliminary data analysis to present in the CIES conference in March.

Significance

While there is an abundance of literature on I-Kiribati attitudes toward climate change education, research is lacking on specifically how secondary school students imagine an economically independent Kiribati, and how they frame hope and resilience as a response to the climate crisis (Maekawa et. al., 2019; Vaioleti & Morrison, 2019). Literature available typically revolves around the experiences of actors in I-Kiribati higher education, which a large portion of I-Kiribati students aren’t even able to access. This is a result of admissions policies which demand a specific level of English comprehension to be admitted (Liyanage, 2022). For a nation with a youthful population, it is critical that its youth’s culture, collective vision, and desires are understood in order to prepare them to become active participants for change in their communities.

Author

• Robert Reese Joiner, University of Maryland