Ecofeminist geragogy as emergent informal learning: insights from Nannagogy

ABSTRACT

This paper reflects on the ecofeminist educational implications of research findings about Australia’s Knitting Nannas’ Against Gas and Greed (a.k.a. The Nannas’) experiences of peer-to-peer, environmental activist learning. Aspects of this unique and successful suite of informal learning practices devised by the Nannas guided by their Nannafesto, and named as Nannagogy, are drawn on to explore the matter of informal ecofeminist education with older women. Drawing on a materialist ecofeminist perspective and learning from older women’s activism in overcoming ageist sexism, we argue for the recognition of an emergent learning space we call ‘ecofeminist geragogy’. As women age, and the matters of climate disruption and species extinction grow ever more severe, informal learning for transformation (or otherwise) emerges as space rich for research investigation.

KEYWORDS:

• Ecofeminism
• geragogy
• educational gerontology
• Nannagogy
• Nannafesto
• informal learning
• ageist sexism
• environmental activism

Acknowledgements

We wish to acknowledge and sincerely thank the reviewers who kindly offered wise suggestions to improve this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Larraine Larri

Dr. Larraine Larri, is a Cairns Institute Research Fellow and member of the Australian Association for Environmental Education. She is an activist, researcher, program evaluation expert specialising in environmental adult education and citizenship. Dr Larri publishes work from her PhD on an original facet of adult social movement learning within the Australian Knitting Nannas environmental activist movement which she calls “Nannagogy”. Her transdisciplinary study addressed a lacuna in older women's environmental activist learning by identifying dynamics of situated, experiential, and social transformative learning. In her post-doctoral work she supports and investigates community resilience, recovery, and adaptation in the face of climate change challenges.

Hilary Whitehouse

Dr. Hilary Whitehouse is an adjunct Associate Professor with The Cairns Institute, James Cook University, and a life member of the Australian Association for Environmental Education. She is known for her work on gender, climate change education, anti-extinction education, and sustainability education. She is an editor for two international journals and volunteers her time with a small NGO The Bats and Trees Society of Cairns.