Rise up!? : an analysis of appreciative resistance in environmental education / by Blair Niblett.

Abstract

This thesis explores the relationship between the concepts of education and activism. I suggest that educators can approach activism in ways that are consistent with the aims of education. In support of this suggestion, I conduct an analysis of a concept of education that includes activism (Chapter II). Building on the notion of educative activism, I explain a framework of appreciative resistance that I have developed as an approach to education that includes activism. The Concept is based on an ethics-based epistemology where our understanding of the world is preceded by an etiquette that demonstrates an openness to the world's possibilities (Chapter III). In the following two chapters I look at cases (or examples) that offer a chance to test possible examples of the appreciative resistance concept, and their connection to educative activism. The first case (Chapter IV) examines an activist campaign with which I was involved as a student at Lakehead University. While I am critical of the way that the campaign was approached, I analyze the activist events for elements that fit with the concept of appreciative resistance. The second case (Chapter V) explores a fictional response to a development issue on the Lakehead University campus. The story is designed to represent an activism that exemplifies the appreciative resistance concept. Analysis following this story links appreciative resistance to the broader concept of educative activism. The story is represented in a non-traditional voice that expresses my thinking about educative activism in a way that is not possible using a traditional academic tone. Chapter VI provides a summary of the main arguments presented through the thesis, and offers some guideposts for further thinking and research about educative activism and appreciative resistance.