Ecology, Spirituality, and Education

Curriculum for Relational Knowing

Author: Elaine Riley-Taylor Series: Counterpoints

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Description

The overarching crisis of our times is a crisis of the way we think. There is an underlying separation - of mind from body, from emotions, from spirit - fundamental to many Westerners' ways of knowing the world, contributing to alienating beliefs and practices that fail to be personally fulfilling or ecologically sustainable. Education could be means to foreground the sacred character of human-earth relations and mediate ecological imbalances between humans and the natural world. Ecology, Spirituality, and Education draws on ecofeminist theory, deep ecology, and postmodern process theory to explore human knowing as a bridge toward human being, the sustainable health of the human species, and the web of relations within which we reside.

Critic Reviews

“This rigorous and evocative study - influenced by deep ecology, ecofeminism, postmodernism - guides us into a world of relationality and sustainability. It is, to employ Riley-Taylor's apt term, an instance of 'eco-spiritual praxis'. (William F. Pinar, St. Bernard Parish Alumni Endowed Professor, Louisiana State University) Elaine Riley-Taylor invites us to walk a path with her that traverses richly textured ground; a ground-breaking path in its originality and vision. Riley-Taylor's weaving of personal narrative and philosophical analysis offers an ecospiritual perspective intended for educators faced with increasing alienation, domination, and mind-numbing standardization. Through her poetic methodology of storytelling and creative theoretical integration, Riley-Taylor develops a powerful praxis to transform our epistemological and ethical assumptions. Her message deserves attention: the future of our planet could depend on it. (Wendy Kohli, Director of Teacher Education, The New School, and President of the American Educational Studies Association, 2000-2001)”

About the Author

The Author: Elaine Riley-Taylor is Assistant Professor at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. She received her Ph.D. in curriculum theory at Louisiana State University and has published articles in professional books and journals.