Ecojustice education and communitarianism: Exploring the possibility for African eco-communitarianism

Kruger, Frans; le Roux, Adré; Teise, Kevin

Abstract

In this article, we explore the concept of African communitarianism and reflect on its potential value for ecojustice education as a localised response to the wider ecological crises that impacts on African communities. We argue for an African eco-communitarian perspective and propose that this perspective extends ecojustice education. Such extension occurs firstly through foregrounding and emphasising the establishment of harmonious and co-constitutive relationships that is characterised by intersubjectivity and secondly, by extending community to beyond humans (and ancestors) to be inclusive of the more-than human world. We contend that ecojustice education, framed within an African eco-communitarianism, constitutes a localised response to the ecological crises in the form of critical place-based education, that it enables co-constitutive dialogue and interaction between the human and non-human elements of an eco-community and is an ethico-political praxis characterised by an African environmental ethic.

Citation

Kruger, F., le Roux, A., & Teise, K. (2020). Ecojustice education and communitarianism: Exploring the possibility for African eco-communitarianism. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 52(2), 206-216. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2019.1625769

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Jun 11, 2019
• Publication Date: Jan 28, 2020
• Deposit Date: Aug 19, 2024
• Journal: Educational Philosophy and Theory
• Print ISSN: 0013-1857
• Electronic ISSN: 1469-5812
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 52
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 206-216
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2019.1625769
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/38383915
• Publisher URL: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00131857.2019.1625769#abstract