An Ecological Pedagogy of Joy
On Relations, Aliveness and Love
Summary
"An Ecological Pedagogy of Joy supports exploration of how ecological pedagogy lives in the world and, as such, carries tenets of life writing, Indigenous and literary métissage, and ecological notions of interweaving. Featuring contemporary research while inviting readers to consider the ancestries informing the work, it evidences how pedagogy can be understood as organized around relationality and living inquiry. Scholars and teachers of eco-sustainability, Indigenous and community-based research, and post/qualitative ways of knowing will find this a valuable resource."
—Ellyn Lyle, Dean, Faculty of Education, Yorkville University
"After many years of work, study, and community service, I have learned that the most important guidance that I can provide is to help human beings connect with the many gifts that exist in the place where they live. Guiding people to attend to such sacred ecology insights helps them understand more deeply the multiple and complex ways that we are all unified by what gives us life. This book is a beautiful recounting of this wisdom teaching and also a poignant reminder of the critical need to express gratefulness for these gifts as a fundamental part of what it means to live as a real human being."
—Dwayne Donald, Professor & Tier 1 Canada Research Chair, Faculty of Education, University of Alberta
Excerpt
Table Of Contents
- Cover
- Title
- Copyright
- About the author
- About the book
- This eBook can be cited
- A Field Guide
- Acknowledgments
- Giving Thanks
- Notes from a Visit with Kehte-aya Bob Cardinal
- Gratitude and Permissions
- On Braiding
- “ALL STORIES ARE NOT CREATED EQUAL”
- To Begin—“All Stories” (Jodi Latremouille, Lesley Tait, & David Jardine)
- Feasting on Whispers (Jodi Latremouille)
- “She Loved to Embroider” (Lesley Tait)
- WAYSTATION I: “Standing Silent in the Sun” (Taylor Nyeste)
- AN ECOLOGICAL PEDAGOGY OF JOY
- An Ecological Pedagogy of Joy (Jodi Latremouille)
- Nôhkom’s Gloves: A Recollection of “Spirit” and our Family Belongings (Lesley Tait)
- A Record Year (Jodi Latremouille)
- “The Open Breath” (Lesley Tait)
- WAYSTATION II: Logger (Vern Latremouille)
- “Slower, More Miraculous Returns” I (David Jardine)
- A Modern Hunting Tradition (Jodi Latremouille)
- ENTANGLED
- Entangled Relations (Jodi Latremouille & Lesley Tait)
- WAYSTATION III: Medicines Heal Your Heart (Emilia Tait)
- “TO RE-TEACH A THING ITS LOVELINESS”
- Environment (Jodi Latremouille)
- WAYSTATION IV: A Conversation with David Geoffrey Smith on The Prevenient Givenness of Life (David G. Smith & David Jardine)
- Birding Lessons and the Teachings of Cicadas (David Jardine)
- Environment (Jodi Latremouille)
- WAYSTATION V: “Out of Control” Activism (Sydney Tait)
- Educational Philosophy (Lesley Tait)
- WAYSTATION VI: The Joy of Learning: Upsetting What We Know (Gail McNicol-Jardine)
- RELATIONS, ALIVENESS, LOVE
- And So. Relations, Aliveness, Love (Jodi Latremouille, Lesley Tait & David Jardine)
- WAYSTATION VII: “Everyone is Hungry”: A Conversation with Jackie Seidel about Bees (Jackie Seidel & David Jardine)
- wahkohtowin
- Winter (Lesley Tait)
- A Breath, When the Birds Will Show Us (Lesley Tait)
- SILENT READING
- Successful Assimilation (Lesley Tait)
- WAYSTATION VIII: Mom’s Poem (Sheila Ewasiuk)
- Raising a Reader (Jodi Latremouille)
- Raising a Writer (David Jardine)
- WAYSTATION IX: I Provide a Pre-emptive Waystation (Eric Jardine)
- BREATH AGAIN
- Breath Again (David Jardine)
- Sharp Exhale: When Will the Birds Show Me? (David Jardine)
- Remembrances of the Land and Rocks in my Pocket (Lesley)
- WAYSTATION X: “Hush, child …” A Conversation with Kiera and Taylor Nyeste
- My Forgetting, Their Remembering (David Jardine)
- More on Whiling Time and Aliveness (David Jardine)
- wicihitowin
- sakihitowin
- Some [Edited] Introductory Words for Two Little Earth-Cousins (David Jardine)
- WAYSTATION XI: Await (Meredith McLeod)
- So Where Are We, Now? (Jodi Latremouille, Lesley Tait & David Jardine)
- My Treasured Relation (Jodi Latremouille)
- WHERE DO WE TURN?
- Where do we Turn? (Jodi Latremouille, Lesley Tait & David Jardine)
- “We Do Know What to Do” (David Jardine)
- WAYSTATION XII: Heartland (Kiera Nyeste)
- We are Back in the Place Where We See Our Footsteps in The Grass (Jodi Latremouille, Lesley Tait & David Jardine)
Acknowledgments
Giving Thanks
We begin by acknowledging and giving thanks to all that gives us life.
manitow- Creator
kîsikâwi-pisim- Sun
tipiskâwi-pisim- Moon
We also acknowledge and give thanks to the land and all our relations who sustain and teach us.
Kehte-aya Bob Cardinal of the Maskekosihk Enoch Cree Nation in Alberta has shared many teachings that guide our work. Kehte-aya refers to the heart and also implies mindfulness. Bob often reminds us that the longest journey is from the mind to the heart. Kehte-aya are the wise ones who have made that journey. They are sacred hearted, kind hearted, and compassionate human beings. They have become that way through many years of dedication to traditional wisdom. Two of the authors, Lesley and Jodi, had the privilege to participate in a 2014 University of Alberta graduate course entitled Holistic Understandings of Learning, which he co-taught at his teaching lodge with Dr. Dwayne Donald. The three of us are grateful for the many occasions we have had to sit with Kehte-aya Bob Cardinal during the writing of this book. His support and permission to share particular teachings are acknowledged as they occur throughout the book. We would like to give thanks to Dwayne Donald for his support, guidance and encouragement over the past six years. Both of them quietly and consistently remind us to find the spirit in the work, to give thanks and respect to Creator, the sun and the moon, the land, the places we belong to, all of the earthly beings who nourish and give life to everything, and to remember all our relations to whom we are responsible.
Notes from a Visit with Kehte-aya Bob Cardinal
The Sacred Four Directions Teachings guide us to find balance in how we live our lives.
EAST
Bear: Emotional Clarity, Patience, Compassion
Sun
journey from head to heart
a child comes—they feel safe
they are the only ones that know truth
innocence and purity—how do we embrace that?
take it slowly
let it grow first
how could students embrace this—lead them—
let them take it in their own way
and live it for themselves
SOUTH
Grandmother Mouse: Spiritual Knowing, Humbleness, Nurturing,
Love, Patience, Innocence
Earth
humbleness
it’s a miracle when we get up in the morning
go softly and slowly—walk on Mother Earth
feel that connection
sounds and colour
what are you trying to lift?
WEST
Thunder Being: Mental Strength and Courage, Respect
Water
I like this—no answers—
readers have to figure out for themselves
allow it to travel with the wind, water and sun
there’s no ending
some people want to own this
pass it on to people who are willing to listen
look beyond your own life
all languages have a place
recognize spirituality
writing that has that character of staying open
words create our reality, our truth
NORTH
Buffalo: Physical Strength and Courage, Relations, Gifts, Protection, Care
Relations
wind and air moves everything
sun gives blessings
water moves everything, gives life, blessings
earth gives trees and food
what do we keep sacred?
we don’t see it but we live it each day
what do we keep sacred?
without wind, air, water, earth, we wouldn’t be here
move things in a good way
take the work out into the world
humbleness
gratitude
VISION
Eagle: Unified Understanding, Connection
Balance
re-spiriting
(Kehte-aya Bob Cardinal, oral teachings, March 28, 2019; June 24–28, 2020)
Gratitude and Permissions
We would also like to express our deep appreciation to Eric Jardine, Gail McNicol-Jardine, Sydney Tait, Emilia Tait, Sheila Ewasiuk, Taylor Nyeste, Kiera Nyeste, Vern Latremouille, Meredith McLeod, David G. Smith and Jackie Seidel for their thoughtful Waystations along the paths of the text.
We would like to acknowledge that this project has received funding from the VIU Publish grant.
We are grateful for the generous permissions we have received to use lovely artwork, and to reprint previously published articles and book chapters by the authors.
For artwork and photographs:
We would like to thank Anita McComas for permission to use the cover painting and another work in the body of the text:
Anita McComas, Cover painting: “Feeling a Bit Curious.”
Anita McComas, Painting in the text: “Moonlight Reflections.”
For more of Anita McComas’ work, see anitamcomas.com.
We would like to thank Danielle Bertoia for permission to use the photo, entitled “Await.”
All other photographs and images have been provided by the authors or borrowed from our family archives.
For work by the authors previously published in various outlets:
Jodi Latremouille
- Latremouille, J. (2014). Feasting on whispers: Life writing towards a pedagogy of kinship. Master of Arts thesis, Faculty of Education, University of Calgary.
- Latremouille, J. (2014). My treasured relation. Online Journal of Applied Hermeneutics. PID: http://hdl.handle.net/10515/sy5d50gd4.
- Latremouille, J. (2015). A modern hunting tradition. One World in Dialogue: A Peer Reviewed Journal and Focus Newsletter, 3(2), 1–6. Alberta Teachers’ Association Social Studies Council. ©2022 by the Alberta Teachers’ Association, 11010 142 Street NW, Edmonton AB, T5N 2R1. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission. Published 2022.
- Latremouille, J. (2016). Raising a reader: Re-memorying through the four directions. Language and Literacy, 18(1), 1–11. Language and Literacy Researchers of Canada: the Canadian Society for Studies in Education. http://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/langandlit.
- Latremouille, J. (2018). Environment. In D. G. Krutka, A. M. Whitlock, M. Helmsing (Eds.), Keywords in the social studies: Concepts and conversations. Peter Lang.
- Latremouille, J. (2020). An ecological pedagogy of joy. In S. Steinberg & B. Down (Eds.), SAGE handbook of critical pedagogies. Sage.
Lesley Tait
- Tait, L. (2016). Remembrances of the Land and Rocks in my Pocket. In J. Seidel & D. Jardine (Eds.), The Ecological Heart of Teaching: Radical Tales of Refuge and Renewal for Classrooms and Communities. (p. 166–167). Peter Lang.
- Tait, L. (2016). Successful Assimilation. In J. Seidel & D. Jardine (Eds.), The Ecological Heart of Teaching: Radical Tales of Refuge and Renewal for Classrooms and Communities. (p. 17–18). Peter Lang.
David Jardine
- Jardine, D. (1997). “All beings are your ancestors”: A bear Sutra on ecology, Buddhism and pedagogy. Originally published in The Trumpeter: A Journal of Ecosophy. 14(3), 122–23.
- Jardine, D. (1997). American Dippers, Alberta winter strawberries. Raise the Stakes: The Planet Drum Review. Originally published in Special issue on “Mainstreaming Watersheds,” #27 Summer 1997, page 8. © Planet Drum Foundation, used with permission. P.O. Box 31251, San Francisco, CA 94131. https://www.planetdrum.org.
- Jardine, D. (1998). Birding lessons and the Teachings of Cicadas. Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, 3, 92–9.
- Jardine, D. (2014). Some introductory words for two little earth-cousins. Journal of Applied Hermeneutics. Online: http://jah.journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/jah/index.php/jah/article/view/61.
- Jardine, D. (2014). This is why we read. This is why we write. Journal of Applied Hermeneutics. Online: http://jah.journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/jah/index.php/jah/article/view/64/pdf.
- Jardine, D. (2016). “You need accuracy”: In appreciation of modern hunting traditions and a grouse’s life unwasted. One World in Dialogue: A Peer Reviewed Journal and Focus Newsletter, 3(2). Alberta Teachers’ Association Social Studies Council. ©2022 by the Alberta Teachers’ Association, 11010 142 Street NW, Edmonton AB, T5N 2R1. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission. Published 2022.
- Jardine, D. (2019). “Like Life, it is Hazy” Originally published in The Planet Drum Pulse, Winter 2020, page 1, © Planet Drum Foundation, used with permission. P.O. Box 31251, San Francisco, CA 94131. https://www.planetdrum.org.
- Jodi Latremouille, Lesley Tait & David Jardine
- Latremouille, J., Tait, L., & Jardine, D. (2021). Relations, aliveness, love: Curriculum in the spirit of the Earth. Oxford Encyclopedia of Curriculum Studies. W. Schubert & Ming Fang He, eds. Oxford University. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.1278.
As We Begin
Jodi Latremouille, Lesley Tait & David Jardine
Details
- Pages
- XXX, 276
- Year
- 2023
- ISBN (PDF)
- 9781636670812
- ISBN (ePUB)
- 9781636670829
- ISBN (Hardcover)
- 9781636671673
- ISBN (Softcover)
- 9781636671666
- DOI
- 10.3726/b20711
- Language
- English
- Publication date
- 2024 (February)
- Keywords
- Education pedagogy eco-pedagogy holistic education métissage interpretive research An Ecological Pedagogy of Joy On Relations, Aliveness and Love Jodi Latremouille Lesley Tait David Jardine
- Published
- New York, Berlin, Bruxelles, Chennai, Lausanne, Oxford, 2024. XXX, 276 pp., 21 col ill., 1 b/w ill.
