Environmental Justice Pedagogies: Performance and Activism in the Humanities
54th Annual Convention, Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA)
March 23-26, 2023
University of Buffalo
Niagara Falls, NY
Environmental Justice Pedagogies: Performance and Activism in the Humanities; ASLE Session
Sponsored by the Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment (ASLE)
Performance pedagogy, project-based learning, integrative learning, service learning, and other teaching models all enable students to transform classroom-based arts and humanities learning into performance and action. This roundtable explores these pedagogical approaches in environmental justice (EJ)-themed arts and humanities courses. Participants might consider theoretical and curricular frameworks for approaching:
-EJ project-based or performance pedagogy and NeMLA’s 2023 conference theme of resilience.
-The humanities as a space for understanding aesthetics, emotions, stories, voices, ideologies, audiences, and community considerations important to EJ performance and activism.
-EJ literature as inspiration for artistic/performance practice at arts schools and conservatories.
-Merging performance or project-based learning, creative experimentation, and activism (e.g., Climate Change Theatre Action, The ClimateMusic Project)
-Opportunities for EJ humanities projects and performances to address real-world problems, have community impact, and engage the public.
-Environmentally sustainable and equitable performance; the arts, humanities, and arts institutions in a world with ecological limits and unevenly distributed environmental resources and hazards.
-Diversity, equity, and inclusion concerns for collaborators and audiences in project-based or performance pedagogy.
-Relationships between project-based or performance pedagogy, students’ ecological anxiety, and students’ socioecological positions of privilege and disadvantage; socioeconomically and emotionally sustainable activism.
-Assessment of EJ performance pedagogy, project-based learning, integrative learning, or service learning in relation to curricular requirements or limitations.
Please submit a 300-500-word abstract on the NeMLA website by 10/15/22, outlining your intentions for (1) a teaching resource you’ll share (e.g., reading list, syllabus, assignment, or activity) and (2) a short pedagogical statement (i.e., analysis of this resource, context, and theoretical approach):