Teaching Land as an Extension of Self: The Role of Ecopsychology in Disrupting Capitalist Narratives of Land and Resource Exploitation

Abstract

Ecopsychology, which investigates the human-nature relationship, draws on marginalized ways of knowing such as Native American Shamanism, “whole earth thinking,” and the dynamic feminine (Gomez & Kanner, 1995). Impediments of literal classroom walls and systemic bias against unquantifiable course outcomes limits traditional pedagogy. Traditional pedagogical approaches to environmental curriculum reinforce perceived helplessness in the face of capitalist forces which identify land only as explotiable “other” (hooks, 2011). This paper describes a university English classroom's radical Ecopedagogy without spatial impedences and state policed “standards” that no longer enforce normative identity constructs. In this Ecopedagogy, students explore Biophilia, which awakens a powerful, dormant identity, expanding the self to include the entire biosphere.