A degrowth framework for children's education
Despite increasing interest in degrowth and education, there has been limited research specifically addressing children's education. This project seeks to bridge this gap by exploring how children's books and reading can encourage young minds to question and challenge dominant societal narratives. This initiative aims to develop theoretical and practical frameworks for children’s education from a degrowth perspective.
Socio-cultural transformations
Degrowth is a socio-ecological movement that critiques the harmful social and environmental impacts of economic growth. It emphasizes the need for socio-cultural transformations to challenge the values, beliefs, and imaginaries that sustain this system. Education plays a crucial role in this transformation, as it has the potential to encourage students to critically reflect on dominant capitalist values such as individualism, productivity, competition, and consumerism. By engaging with principles such as redistributive justice, connection to nature, solidarity, commoning, simplicity, and care, children can be empowered to:
- Reflect critically and autonomously on capitalist imaginaries.
- Explore alternative ways of living that challenge the normalization of the capitalist status quo.
This Seed project aims to continue this research, addressing the current lack of engagement with children’s education from a degrowth perspective. The project involves the following key objectives:
Engagement with the Degrowth Community:
- Conduct interviews and workshops on degrowth and children’s education to gather insights and perspectives.
- Engage with degrowth activists, parents, and educators to foster a deeper understanding of the role of children in socio-cultural transformations.
Development of a Picture Book:
- Reflect on the engagements and collective brainstorming sessions to establish themes and ideas for the picture book.
- Utilize an iterative writing and illustration process to create the book, incorporating feedback from various stakeholders.
Public Readings and Discussions:
- Organize public readings of the picture book and facilitate discussions with parents and children at libraries, bookshops, and community centers in the Netherlands.
- Use these events to gather feedback and encourage dialogue on degrowth principles and children's education.
Dissemination of Findings:
- Summarize the book development process and discussion outcomes in blog posts for the international website degrowth.info and the Dutch degrowth website Ontgroei.
- Highlight the possibilities of children’s critical education through picture books and emphasize the importance of children within movements for socio-cultural transformations.
Interdisciplinairy team
The team comprises members from various departments and disciplines at Utrecht University, including Geosciences, Environmental Humanities, and Comparative Literature. This diverse collaboration fosters different forms of knowledge creation and integrates various skill sets, particularly beneficial for the creative writing and book development aspects of the project.
Engaging with degrowth activists, as well as parents and children in the Netherlands, the project emphasizes extensive community and stakeholder involvement. Building on established connections within the degrowth community and various societal partners, including centers of children’s reading and education, the project facilitates the exchange of perspectives and ideas on the book and the discussions it incites.
By offering interdisciplinary and interfaculty contributions to sustainability transformations, employing an artistic and creative research approach, and involving community and societal stakeholders, this project aligns with the aims and strategies of the 'Pathways to Sustainability' mission.
Contact: Dr. Tatiana Acevedo Guerrero