Direct climate action as public pedagogy: the cultural politics of the Camp for Climate Action

Abstract

Discourse theory is employed to analyse the public curriculum generated through the Camp for Climate Action. This movement emerged as a germinal response to tensions within the dominant discourse on ‘Climate Action’ by articulating it into a broader history of civil disobedience and staging spatial interventions that ostensibly identified the root causes of climate change. This generated learning opportunities over time for both activists and the wider public. However, this attempted redefinition of ‘Climate Action’ was threatened by coercive state action, which sought to link it with ‘domestic extremism’. Tensions emerged between ‘liberal’ and ‘radical’ participants as the meaning of ‘Climate Action’ once again became contested. The article concludes by exploring the implications of these tensions for the movement’s pedagogical efforts.