Evaluating the impact of an environmental education programme; an empirical study in Mexico.

This study draws on information from 11 in-depth interviews, two focus groups and 72 written questionnaires to evaluate an extra-curricular environmental education programme on forestry designed for preparatory school students from a small rural community in Mexico. Specifically, the study assessed the impact of the programme on the ecological knowledge of 72 students. Qualitative feedback suggests that students learnt about forestry, acquired greater awareness of the importance of conservation for the local environment and enjoyed the participatory teaching methods used in the programme. Quantitative results show a positive and significant association between the number of times a student participated in the programme and the student&rsquo;s ecological knowledge. Students who participated in the programme once had a 16.3% higher knowledge on ecological concepts and knew, on average, 1.5 more local forest plants than students who never attended it (p&lt;.001). Findings suggest that the inclusion of participatory environmental education programmes in preparatory schools would improve the acquisition of ecological knowledge. Further research could consider the consistency of the findings by replicating participatory methods presented here and by using an experimental research design.<br /

Animistic pragmatism and native ways of knowing: adaptive strategies for overcoming the struggle for food in the sub-Arctic

Background. Subsistence norms are part of the &#x201C;ecosophy&#x201D; or ecological philosophy of Alaska Native Peoples in the sub-Arctic, such as the Inupiat of Seward Peninsula. This kind of animistic pragmatism is a special source of practical wisdom that spans over thousands of years and which has been instrumental in the I&#xF1;upiat&#x2019;s struggle to survive and thrive in harsh and evolving environments. Objective. I hope to show how narrative in relationship to the &#x201C;ecosophy&#x201D; of Alaska Native peoples can help to promote a more ecological orientation to address food insecurity in rural communities in Alaska. Alaska Native ecosophy recommends central values and virtues necessary to help address concerns in Alaska&#x2019;s rural communities. Design. Here, I will tease out the nature of this &#x201C;ecosophy&#x201D; in terms of animistic pragmatism and then show why this form of pragmatism can be instrumental for problematizing multi-scalar, intergenerational, uncertain and complex environmental challenges like food security. Results. Native elders have been the embodiment of trans-generational distributed cognition,1 for example, collective memory, norms, information, knowledge, technical skills and experimental adaptive strategies. They are human &#x201C;supercomputers,&#x201D; historical epistemologists and moral philosophers of a sort who use narrative, a form of moral testimony, to help their communities face challenges and seize opportunities in the wake of an ever-changing landscape. Conclusions. The &#x201C;ecosophy&#x201D; of the I&#xF1;upiat of Seward Peninsula offers examples of &#x201C;focal practices&#x201D;, which are essential for environmental education. These focal practices instil key virtues, namely humility, gratitude, self-reliance, attentiveness, responsibility and responsiveness, that are necessary for subsistence living

Exclusion and reappropriation: Experiences of contemporary enclosure among children in three East Anglian schools

Transformations of the landscapes which children inhabit have significant impacts on their lives; yet, due to the limited economic visibility of children’s relationships with place, they have little stake in those transformations. Their experience, therefore, illustrates in an acute way the experience of contemporary enclosure as a mode of subordination. Following fieldwork in three primary schools in South Cambridgeshire, UK, we offer an ethnographic account of children’s experiences of socio-spatial exclusion. Yet, we suggest that such exclusion is by no means an end-point in children’s relationships with place. Challenging assumptions that children are disconnected from nature, we argue that through play and imaginative exploration of their environments, children find ways to rebuild relationships with places from which they find themselves excluded. This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from SAGE via http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/026377581664194

Communicating climate knowledge proxies, processes, politics

This forum article is the product of interdisciplinary discussion at a conference on climate histories held inCambridge, United Kingdom, in early 2011, with the specific aim of building a network around the issue of communicating cultural knowledge of environmental change. The lead articles, by Kirsten Hastrup as an anthropologist and Simon Schaffer as a historian of science, highlight the role of agents and proxies. These are followed by five interdisciplinary commentaries, which engage with the lead articles through new ethnographic material, and a set of shorter commentaries by leading scholars of different disciplines. Finally, the lead authors respond to the discussion. In this debate, climate change does not emerge as a single preformed "problem." Rather, different climate knowledges appear as products of particular networks and agencies. Just as the identification of proxies creates agents (ice, mountains, informants) by inserting them into new networks, we hope that these cross-disciplinary exchanges will produce further conversations and new approaches to action. © 2012 by The Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research

Naming Patterns Reveal Cultural Values: Patronyms, Matronyms, and the U.S. Culture of Honor

Four studies examined the hypothesis that honor norms would be associated with a pronounced use of patronyms, but not matronyms, for naming children. Study 1 shows that men who endorse honor values expressed a stronger desire to use patronyms (but not matronyms) for future children, an association that was mediated by patriarchal attitudes. Study 2 presents an indirect method for assessing state patronym and matronym levels. As expected, patronym scores were significantly higher in honor states and were associated with a wide range of variables linked previously to honor-related dynamics. Study 3a shows that following the terrorist attacks of 9/11, patronyms increased in honor states, but not in non-honor states. Likewise, priming men with a fictitious terrorist attack (Study 3b) increased the association between honor ideology and patronym preferences. Together, these studies reveal a subtle social signal that reflects the masculine values of an honor culture.Yeshttps://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/manuscript-submission-guideline