Place-Based Poetic Inquiry and Literacy: An Eco-Justice Curriculum of Movement, Travel, and Writing

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

Abstract

In this paper, the author reflects on Bowers’ concept of the “commons” and shares a case study example of how within teacher education they teach about the commons through poetry, song, travel, and movement. The author examines how learners can develop a deeper understanding of intact-ecosystems through engaging in environmental learning over a course of time and with a critical understanding of relationships to place. In particular, this author utilizes poetry to recount
a journey north to the University of Saskatchewan, where Chet Bowers held his first academic appointment. By juxtaposing such inquiry with understandings of place, the author demonstrates the importance of local knowledge of food preparation as a way of strengthening the commons and reducing our environmental impact for the sake of future generations.

Author

• Andrejs Kulnieks, University of Saskatchewan