Problems of Knowledge and Legitimation in Environmental Education Research

• In Event: Theories of Culture and Practice in Researching Environmental Education

Abstract

As the effects of the crises of legitimation and representation disperse through the various fields that comprise educational research, environmental education researchers face the call for intelligibility in both generating and evaluating accounts of their work (see St. Pierre, 2000). This paper focuses on challenges of going beyond ‘business as usual’ in the production of knowledge. Environmental education research, given the paradox of a history of resistance to the dominant social paradigm yet virtual compliance with traditional forms of knowledge production and evaluation, seems due for critical review. The paper is intended to open critical discussion by focusing on the contexts within which we communicate our knowledge, arguing for both philosophical and practical critique of processes of socialization and legitimation.

Author

• Paul Hart, University of Regina