Ecofeminism ↔ Intraconnectivism: working beyond binaries in environmental education

Abstract

ABSTRACT Over the last decades, ecofeminist thought has moved into a ‘fourth stage critical ecofeminism’ (Gaard 2017, xvi), based on an understanding that humans are unavoidably part of a multifaceted and interconnected global ecosystem. This paper suggests that ecofeminist theory and practice can now grow further into a fifth stage: an era of expanded intersectionality that moves beyond the dualisms and hegemonies of neo-liberal patriarchal and colonial capitalist structures that can limit ecofeminist theorizing and material practice. This fifth stage must be based on an amalgamation of engaged theory, education, and activism, grounded in ancient wisdom and with the understanding that all material-discursive phenomena are interconnected. For this next era of ecofeminism, the terms intraconnectivism and intraconnective education (Siegel 2022) are proposed. Intraconnectivism offers a bridge that connects past theoretical frameworks with ecofeminist presents. It can build a helpful theoretical pathway through and amongst the non-dualistic educational pedagogies that are needed at this time, as well as expand understanding of the role that gender and other identities can play in education.