Greening the past: putting history in its place at the ecological university

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to think through the value of History as a way of interrogating ideas around environmental change as well as bridging the gap between definitions of natural and cultural heritage. In terms of the sustainability in higher education imperative, it argues that youth climate change movements and endeavours to diversify curriculum content make this a moment of critical mass to push forward with new historical programmes that embed environmental themes in a wider intellectual pedagogy. Design/methodology/approach This paper looks to combine an urgent need to engage with environmental sustainability with progressive endeavours at decolonising the curriculum to explore how humanities (and History, in particular) can be brought into the service of the ecological university. Findings Thereafter, it looks specifically at “green heritage” in the city as a useful example in which the greening agenda can be used to re-contextualise historical approaches, encourage useful conversations around the role of History as a conservation and heritage management tool and build active partnerships with local stakeholder groups. Originality/value The originality of this approach lies in thinking both of content and intellectual practice, pedagogy as content and behaviour and in reconstructing the terrain of a theme such as heritage to think through opportunities for sustainability in education.