(De)Politicizing the Environment Club: environmental discourses and the culture of schooling |
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| Authors: | Cheryl Lousley |
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| Institution: | Faculty of Environmental Studies , York University , Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
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| Abstract: | Critical ethnographic research with four urban, multicultural secondary school environment clubs is presented through the theoretical framework of critical pedagogy. The analysis explores how teachers and students reflect and reconstruct mainstream environmental discourses as they negotiate the structure and culture of schooling and social relations of race, ethnicity, class, and gender. The liberal‐humanist, community service approach to environment clubs adopted by teachers is deconstructed as the author considers the role of the club in constructing student apathy and in depoliticizing student activism. The clubs’ moralized discourse of green consumerism, centred around the activity of recycling, is examined for how it serves more to deflect and suppress environmental criticism than to ‘make a difference’. Lastly, it is argued that environmental values and perspectives are not simply inculcated through positive nature and community service experiences, but are shaped by racial/ethnic, class, and gender identities and relations. |
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