A Freirean ecopedagogy or an imposition of values? The pluriverse and the politics of environmental education

Abstract

Ecopedagogy is a viable pathway towards a pluriversal education system that attends to both global ecological concerns and various local expressions of interests, working towards socioenvironmental justice and a Freirean critical (eco)pedagogy. Ethnographic examples of environmental education in rural Costa Rica emerging from my case study of Samuel, the creative, music educator in La Palma, demonstrate a variety of pedagogical tactics used to generate ecological awareness and create sustainability-minded citizens. Through lively and engaging activities with young students, ecopedagogy serves as a potential pathway between pluriversal education and normative environmentalism. This ethnographic analysis of ecopedagogy in practice within Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula illuminates the tension between an imposition of values and the generation of pluriversal education through dynamic pedagogical influence, structured play, embodied practice, and decentring the human.