Poetic Environmental Activism and Education: Thoreau and Shepherd for Times of Ecological Crises

Abstract

This book brings together the works of the nineteenth and twentieth century writers Henry David Thoreau and Anna Shepherd. Finding in their work a common approach of poetic forms of writing that enact kinds of environmental activism, the book re-positions them in the context of current environmental crises by offering an original resource for supporting poetic environmental activism in educational contexts. Bringing together scholarship from North America and Europe, the book draws on Thoreau and Shepherd’s literary and philosophical sources to support a conceptual understanding of education’s role in how we think about, understand, and tackle the climate crisis. Chapters trace the idea of poetic environmental activism in Thoreau and Shepherd, applying literary and environmental thought to educational practice and contexts. The book is timely in taking a scholarly approach that explores educational engagements with climate change and focuses on education for environmental sustainability. Advocating for engagement with the climate emergency through the lens of poetic environmental activism, this volume will appeal to postgraduate students, researchers, and scholars involved with sustainability education, philosophy of education, poetic inquiry, and literary theory for environmental action.