CODE2025

hey so this is where we can write our notes might be useful to get to know the wiki

Here the link to CODE 2025 Contemporary Ecofeminist Education (CEE): Revisioning The Course

Contemporary Ecofeminist Education (CEE): Revisioning The Course

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Jo Pollit Nancy Mauro-Flude

Contemporary Ecofeminist Education (CEE) is a research initiative that investigates, analyses, and ecofeminism’s legacies and continuity. Rooted in the influential work of Patsy Hallen (1944-present), who pioneered Australia’s first Environmental Ethics (1981) and Ecofeminism (1991) courses at Murdoch University, CEE seeks to adapt these foundational curricula into “nano-credentials” tailored for 21st-century learners. The gifting of these printed course readers to the researchers propelled a responsive project begun as performing ecofeministfutures with The Centre for People, Place and Planet and further developed into CEE.

This research is grounded in critical questions: What frameworks, theories, and methodologies activate, support, hinder, reveal, and/or erase ecofeminist knowledge systems? The inquiry extends into a transdisciplinary approach that considers the relationship of feminism, environmentalism, and decolonial perspectives as connected forces within ecofeminism. This standpoint enables us to address complex issues cooperatively, fostering learning environments that adapt to emerging ecological and societal challenges as part of a community of “commons co-created from resilient participatory practices and digital caretaking” (Mauro-Flude and Illyas 2025).

A core focus of CEE is the integration of Southern Oceanic Palawa and Noongar Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS). Recognising IKS as foundational, CEE highlights the importance of knowledge-sharing practices rooted in place and relationality, contrasting with extractive digital frameworks.

Embracing a web of relations, CEE emphasises practices that honour local contexts and seek to dissolve traditional hierarchies, building an inclusive space for marginalised and queer groups. Guided by ecofeminist and decolonial thought, CEE also critiques the universality assumed by certain digital technologies and their impact on local knowledge systems through self-determined holistic practices and processes of context-based knowledge transmission.

CEE’s methods are shaped by iterative, collaborative processes prioritising social negotiation and shared decision-making over authority. Inspired by Hallen’s communally designed “bush schools” and the Kurrabup Manifesto.

CEE’s approach foregrounds sensory engagement and being “present” within the learning space, drawing from Hallen’s philosophy that “being there will allow subtle happenings that claim us” (Hallen, 2000, p. 156). This perspective encourages both educators and students to perceive beyond the visible, acknowledging non-human ontributions to knowledge as essential and engaging directly with a “more-than-human” world (Hallen 2000, 153). Negotiations in politics of what is noticed and ignored and the ethics of acting upon what we thought we knew are also addressed. Namely, the experiential knowledge of people who may regularly encounter various forms of elitism is invited to challenge these as part of confronting supremacy.

Additionally, CEE employs digital tools through a decolonial lens,reconfiguring digital spaces to accommodate local, situated knowledge-sharing. This practice includes setting up and maintaining online shared spaces with marginalised groups and promoting gradual, community-oriented technology adoption to foster an inclusive repository of open-source content. Materials include audiovisual media, field notes, and scores collected on a collaboratively designed web-to-print archive that is codesigned in a way so as to “resist the homogenising trajectories of techno-colonialism” (Mauro-Flude and Illyas, 2025).

The iterative process within CEE demonstrates that dissolving traditional notions of authority and replacing them with collective negotiation opens new pathways for inclusivity and adaptability. This approach enables CEE to address frequently overlooked issues and emerging possibilities. Reflecting Hallen’s legacy, the researchers found that these practices support creating an adaptive, transdisciplinary environment that emphasises cooperative learning for intergenerational communities, allowing diverse participants to learn, grow, and contribute collectively.

CEE contributes to ecofeminism and environmental education knowledge by investigating how non-hierarchical, transdisciplinary methodologies can support more holistic and sustainable learning environments. This approach challenges static educational models and reinforces the value of continuous adaptation. By situating ecofeminist learning within human and more-than-human contexts, CEE fosters a reimagining of environmental philosophy that values and practises interconnectedness.

CEE’s commitment to local and indigenous knowledge, digital reconfiguration, and shared learning spaces highlights ecofeminism’s potential to reshape education through inclusive, decolonial practices. The project’s framework, grounded in Hallen’s philosophy and expanded through community engagement, offers a model for transformative ecofeminist education that bridges historical legacies with future needs.

Reference List

Patsy Hallen (2000) ‘Ecofeminism Goes Bush’, Canadian Journal of Environmental Education, 5, Spring.

Mauro-Flude, Nancy and Shahee Illyas (2025) "Thinking with Shells: Seashell Stringing and Decolonisation of Digital Culturescapes through codework." In Alternative Economies of Heritage: Studies in Heritage series, edited by T. Ireland, D. Thwaites, and B. Turner. New York: Routledge. [In press] Keywords *

Creative arts, Environmental Philosophy, Transdisciplinary Education, Decolonial Digital Practice, Indigenous Knowledge Systems.