Page 344 - Cultural Studies of Science Education

318 C.A. Siry

To that end, there is a need for a research paradigm to try to come together across
difference. In the area of education for sustainability particularly, George Glasson
(2010) suggests that researchers will need to examine ecojustice issues embedded in
distinct historical, cultural, and political connections. Such connections to the land
and resources can be emphasized through coming together across different posi-
tions. Joe Kincheloe (2008) advocated the importance of radical listening; that is,
listening to the other with the explicit purpose of trying to understand their view-
points and their standpoints. In this focus on learning from the other, he emphasized
critical listening and consideration of diverse perspectives as a central piece of
decolonizing knowledge, and this is a valuable lens for research in disputed areas.
Facilitating place-based education in a contested space requires a different set of
expectations and processes than in a noncontested space. Approaches for consid-
ering research with people in and around contested places need to acknowledge
the multidimensional intersubjective perspectives while recognizing the connec-
tions to place, and emphasizing the possibility to effect change in circumstances.
Paulo Freire (2006) focused on problem-posing education for people to see the
realities of their world not as static, but as a process, and this can be a useful
approach for people who have been displaced or are living in a contested place.
In these situations, people have an acute, personal, understanding of the broader
political context that has mediated their experiences, and as such, perhaps this is
where place-based education can embrace a critical pluralistic focus. The idea that
you “start small and then become political” is a luxury of those for whom the politi-
cal has not intruded upon and disrupted their lives/livelihoods. However, this can
be turned on its head, so to speak, so that rather than place-based education that
begins with the immediate surroundings and works out, research can begin with
participants’ political, economic, and social understandings of living in contested
places, and work its way inward to place-based constructs, ecological explorations,
and toward environmental justice.
There is a need to find a way to conduct collaborative place-based research that
begins with the broader context and moves into critically considering possible
actions for the communities that are affected by the contestations, in order to recog-
nize the conflict and histories with a critical, complex lens on context and action.
Places are dynamic social constructions, and conversations of how communities in
conflict can try to work together to address the underlying issues that are at play can
create possibilities for pushing back on the powerful economic and political forces,
through a hybrid of place-based education and collaborative research for working
with the other. While in place-based education, place is the main object of inquiry,
in this melded approach, the main object of inquiry could be on finding ways to
come together across difference with the purpose of turning to issues of place. The
big question that needs to be asked is how can these communities work together to
achieve cultural sustainability for the indigenous people, community survival for the
residents of the town and ecological integrity of the natural settings? Issues of time
and power are critical to working with people in contested places, and conducting
locally situated participatory research connected with place-based approaches can
possibly lead to cultural sustainability and ecological integrity. A role of education