Please join the Adventures in Posthumanism Network for their research seminars which are open to all. The seminars will be delivered online via Zoom (all times are GMT).
Email joanna.haynes@plymouth.ac.uk for further information.
Wednesday 18 September (14:00–15:30) – Integrating multispecies justice perspectives in environmental education
In this seminar, Dr Saari explores what animal-inclusive environmental education could look like, where the flourishing of animals is included in the exploration of climate challenges, disasters, and sustainable futures. Drawing on her postdoctoral research in Finland, Portugal and Namibia, the importance of animal-inclusive pedagogies is outlined, including how multispecies flourishing could serve as a promising conceptual framework in guiding education policy and practice. Lessons from the field are explored, identifying some of the opportunities and challenges of implementing animal-inclusive pedagogies, with suggestions on possible pathways forward for multispecies sustainable futures within and beyond educational spaces.
BIOGRAPHY
Maria is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Faculty of Education & Psychology at the University of Oulu. She is currently Co-leader of WP2 Unlearning with Other Species in the Strategic Research Council funded project MUST: Enabling Multispecies Transitions (2023–26) and Co-leader of the Environmental Education Working Group in the Global Innovation Network in Teaching and Learning (GINTL) project ‘Co-designing teacher education that connects theory and practice and is relevant to the needs of the society’ between the University of Oulu and University of Namibia (2021–24). Maria has lead research initiatives including the Envisioning Sustainability Hub of the Biodiverse Anthropocenes Research Program at the University of Oulu, where she served as Co-leader of the Hub between 2021–24, as well as to lead the education research strand at the Human-Animal Studies Hub at ICS-ULisboa, where she was a Visiting Scholar and PI of the project Multispecies Climate Change Education (2022–23).
Maria is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Faculty of Education & Psychology at the University of Oulu. She is currently Co-leader of WP2 Unlearning with Other Species in the Strategic Research Council funded project MUST: Enabling Multispecies Transitions (2023–26) and Co-leader of the Environmental Education Working Group in the Global Innovation Network in Teaching and Learning (GINTL) project ‘Co-designing teacher education that connects theory and practice and is relevant to the needs of the society’ between the University of Oulu and University of Namibia (2021–24). Maria has lead research initiatives including the Envisioning Sustainability Hub of the Biodiverse Anthropocenes Research Program at the University of Oulu, where she served as Co-leader of the Hub between 2021–24, as well as to lead the education research strand at the Human-Animal Studies Hub at ICS-ULisboa, where she was a Visiting Scholar and PI of the project Multispecies Climate Change Education (2022–23).
Maria earned her PhD in Educational Sciences from the University of Oulu in 2021 and her doctoral thesis 'Animals as Stakeholders in Education: Towards an Educational Reform for Interspecies Sustainability' was awarded the Senior Animal Law Researcher Award by the International Centre for Animal Law & Policy (ICALP) at the Autonomous University of Barcelona for its innovative interdisciplinary approach. Maria’s interdisciplinary research focuses on animals in education (policy and pedagogy), multispecies justice and sustainability, environmental education, governance solutions for planetary sustainability, curriculum development, and teacher education. She co-coordinates and teaches undergraduate courses on environmental education and multispecies childhood studies. Prior to her research career, she worked in the field of education in teaching and leadership roles.
Wednesday 2 October (12:00–13:30) – Paradise lost? Dark pedagogy beyond alienation
The presentation examines the theoretical import of dark pedagogy on environmental education discourses and place-based pedagogies in particular. The task of place-placed pedagogy is often defined as overcoming our collective alienation through various pedagogical means that contribute to restoring a lost sense of belonging between the human and more-than-human environment. In contrast to these perspectives, the presentation explores the premise of dark pedagogy according to which alienation is fundamental to human existence, making harmony with the human and the more-than-human impossible to achieve. Using encounters with ruin aesthetics as a case example, the presentation discusses the possibilities of place-based pedagogies in bringing up alienation as a subject of exploration rather than something to be overcome.
BIOGRAPHY
Antti Saari is Associate Professor in Tampere University Faculty of Education and Culture. His main research interests include history and philosophy of education and curriculum studies. His recent work has explored the import of psychoanalytic theories to educational theory and policy studies of education. Currently, he leads the EnAct research project which explores the emergent modes of self-cultivation in environmental activism. Saari is the leader of the research group Political Philosophies and Sociologies of Education (POISED).
Antti Saari is Associate Professor in Tampere University Faculty of Education and Culture. His main research interests include history and philosophy of education and curriculum studies. His recent work has explored the import of psychoanalytic theories to educational theory and policy studies of education. Currently, he leads the EnAct research project which explores the emergent modes of self-cultivation in environmental activism. Saari is the leader of the research group Political Philosophies and Sociologies of Education (POISED).