Exploring subjectification processes in environmental education: How environmental education researchers come to construct their environmental subjectivities

Abstract

In this study I explore ways in which environmental subjectivities are formulated in and through developing discourses, practices and ways of interacting. Using the poststructurally-informed concept of environmental subjectivity and narrative approaches I explore how personal and academic positions and positionings are constructed for environmental education researchers through ongoing subjectification processes. My primary research question is How do postsecondary environmental education researchers come to construct their environmental subjectivities? Two sub-question guide this exploration of environmental subjectification processes: How did the participants come to construct their environmental subjectivities across the time and space of their life? and How does their current work – published work and faculty performance (reported and/or observed) provide evidence of their environmental identity as it evolves and is continuously involved in their repositioning work within the academy? I used guided conversations and participant writings to allow participants to speak for themselves as they describe their understandings of how they came to position themselves as environmental education researchers and how they articulate their environmental subjectivity and worldview. By examining these questions I present for readers the understandings participants have of their environmental subjectivities, enmeshed with their multiple subjectivities, and how the subjectification process works to constantly (re)position ones life and work in environmental education in a process of ongoing becoming.