Writing gendered embodiment into outdoor learning environments: Journaling for critical consciousness

Abstract

This chapter considers what theory and methodology may offer to outdoor education practitioners trying to foster inclusive environments. The author draws from her poststructural feminist training to recommend exploring gender relations and intersectionality through the practice of journaling in outdoor learning environments. The author's inclination towards journaling stems from autoethnographic research that is critical, self-reflexive, and embodied, and she includes her own rock climbing vignette. The author argues that the practice of journaling for both outdoor education facilitators and participants encourages consciousness-raising and unpacking the embodied knowledges and values that we uphold in outdoor learning. In particular, journaling can encourage deliberation upon how norms of femininity and masculinity set the bounds of appropriate appearance, attitudes, and behaviours in outdoor learning.