ERIC Number: ED657664
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2024
Pages: 213
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: 979-8-3828-3176-3
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Educator Perspectives on Environmental Stewardship, Leave No Trace, and DEI in Public Outdoor Spaces
Kendra Diane Ormerod
ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, State University of New York at Buffalo
Environmental stewardship and leave no trace educational programming promote a message of "nature/wilderness/outdoors" for all while also urging recreationists towards specific, responsible (i.e. permitted), and voluntary behaviors in outdoor public spaces. Yet notions of nature and wilderness, as well as the strategies employed to manage and protect the environment, are value-laden and often reveal specific ontological and epistemological stances. This research focuses on interviews with seasonal environmental educators and reveals complexities and tensions underlying an understanding of nature as both "for" and in need of protection "from" people. This critical case study (Hancock & Algozzine, 2017) employs critical discourse analysis through a curriculum and critical whiteness studies lens to explore how environmental stewardship educators: a) narrate their understandings of their work; b) position themselves and others; and c) consider the social and material consequences of their work in relation to leave no trace education and their notions of diversity within the research context. Findings revealed consistent use of an environmental stewardship discourse by participants, who positioned themselves and others in relation to one's motivations, roles, and perceived impacts on the environment; and a discourse of authority and power in relation to how one can and should behave in the research context, what authority is and who has the agency to wield it. This research offers new insight into the work of seasonal stewardship educators as nuanced, dynamic, ambiguous, and socially influential, rather than solely focusing on the environmental outcomes of their work. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]
Descriptors: Conservation (Environment), Natural Resources, Ecology, Environmental Education, Teacher Attitudes, Teacher Behavior, Power Structure, Seasonal Employment
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Publication Type: Dissertations/Theses - Doctoral Dissertations
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A