Abstract
After years of research and theorisation connected to education for sustainable development, the holistic core of sustainability seems to have disappeared within the frames of the social, environmental and economic pillars. This article suggests a post-humanism inspired understanding of a sense of belonging. Even though the phenomenon of belonging is ascribed to social sustainability, the post-human theoretical toolkit challenges the humanism-based understanding of a sense of belonging as a human-related phenomenon. Using Deleuze and Guattari’s rhizome and affect concepts and Barad’s concept of intra-action, we show the connections between the human and nonhuman elements constituting each other in our world. We conclude with the implications that using post-human language (to understand belonging) may have for policy, Early Childhood Education and care (ECEC) practice and theory.
Highlights
In order to realise this, the article begins with a discussion of the paradox of dividing the pillars of sustainability in order to open interdisciplinarity and holistic thinking. This is followed by a discussion that illustrates some of the ways in which sociocultural theories, anchored in humanism may be considered as viewing a sense of belonging as a human
Thinking with post-humanism we explore social sustainability through a sense of belonging that appreciates the associations between human and nonhuman elements, whilst allowing for connections to be made between diverse aspects originally related to economic or environmental pillars of sustainability
In this article we focus on the sense of belonging, which is associated with social sustainability [7,8,12,13]
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. By theorising the sense of belonging with the use of post-human inspirations, we try to open up this phenomenon ascribed to social sustainability [7,8,12,13] to economic and environmental aspects. In order to realise this, the article begins with a discussion of the paradox of dividing the pillars of sustainability in order to open interdisciplinarity and holistic thinking This is followed by a discussion that illustrates some of the ways in which sociocultural theories, anchored in humanism may be considered as viewing a sense of belonging as a human–. Thinking with post-humanism we explore social sustainability through a sense of belonging that appreciates the associations between human and nonhuman elements, whilst allowing for connections to be made between diverse aspects originally related to economic or environmental pillars of sustainability. As this paper is intended for policymakers, academics and practitioners, we try to illustrate our descriptions with practical examples and draw conclusions relevant for policy, theory and practice
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