https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3758-9413
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ABSTRACT
Digital technologies are receiving increased attention in outdoor and environmental education (OEE). Historically, debates on digital technology in these fields have tended to focus on how technology might hinder authentic relationships with the outdoors or how it might be used instrumentally to meet educational aims or support pedagogy. More recent postdigital perspectives understand digital technology as something that is deeply embedded, entangled, throughout society and by extension the daily life of OEE participants. The idea that we are entangled with technology is congruent with the emerging theories of new materialism; theories that are increasingly influencing OEE research and pedagogy. In this paper, we argue that new materialism is a useful way to conceptualise the entangled nature of digital technology in OEE. We show some ways we have tried to embrace technology as entangled in our OEE practice, drawing upon theoretical insights and practice-based examples from tertiary outdoor education contexts.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1. Importantly, a ‘knot is not a building block’ (Ingold, 2015, p. 15)—or some other constructivist term—but a tying together, involving movement, tension and the joining of forces.
2. Note that we are also wary of presenting a dichotomy and gap between theory and practice. Instead, such knots are theorypractice (Pleasants & Stewart, 2019), where we think with and enact theory and practice together (practicing theory and theorising practice in iterative loopings). In other words, this paper and its knots are iterations of theorypractice, where we attempt to describe practices-of-theory.
3. They also highlight many other technologies, such as technical clothing, bicycles, walking boots, drink bottles and so on are all common and all alter the ways people engage with environments and places, making particular interactions possible or not possible.
4. We use the term more-than-human in this paper as a semiotic strategy to both decentre and look beyond humans. The ontological emphasis is the more-than (an excess), with the human still embedded with, rather than a dichotomous separation of humans and an ‘other(ed)’ nature. See Jukes (in press) for an in-depth discussion of the use of the phrasing ‘more-than-human’ and ontological implications for OEE. We also note that Abram (1996) first used the phrasing more-than-human. More recently, Ingold (2021b) has adopted the phrasing ‘more-than-human,’ stating:
The truth is that in a more-than-human world, nothing exists in isolation. Humans may share this world with non-humans, but by the same token, stones share it with non-stones, trees with non-trees and mountains with non-mountains. Yet where the stone ends and its contrary begins cannot be ascertained with any finality. The same goes for the tree and the mountain, even for the human. It is a condition of life that everything leaks, and nothing is locked in. (p. 6–7)
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Scott Jukes
Dr Scott Jukes is a lecturer in Outdoor Environmental Education at Federation University, Australia. His research explores pedagogical development and experimentation in outdoor environmental education, inspired by posthumanist and new materialist theories. He is particularly interested in ways we may grapple with place-specific environmental problems and engage with more-than-human worlds. He has a passion for the river, mountain and coastal environments of south-eastern Australia and enjoys teaching and spending time in these places. Scott is a Deputy Editor for the Journal of Outdoor and Environmental Education and Media Editor for the Australian Journal of Environmental Education.
Jonathan Lynch
Dr Jonathan Lynch is co-head of the Professional Practice (transdisciplinary) programmes at Te Pūkenga, based in Dunedin, New Zealand. From 2016-2021 he was Postgraduate Director with The Mind Lab in New Zealand where he taught on their postgraduate courses in digital technology and education. Previously an outdoor educator across primary, secondary and tertiary education in the UK, he is enthusiastic about education beyond the classroom and improving human-environment relations. Informed by posthumanist and New Materialist thinking, his research contributes to the fields of place-responsive pedagogy, environmental education, and technology enhanced education.