Hyperobjects, Media, and Assemblages of Collective Living: Playing With Ontology as Environmental Education

Abstract

This article emphasises the importance of creative thought for environmental education through a discussion of the ontologically rich work of Anna Tsing, Timothy Morton and John Peters. The recent turn toward ontology in the humanities and social sciences has consequently led to diverse theories about ‘how things are’, and some of these concepts might assist justice-oriented environmental educators in raising ecological awareness in a time of crisis. Using assemblages, media and hyperobjects as concepts to (re)imagine the the world(s) of the Anthropocene, this article promotes a practice of ontic-play, a constantly changing engagement with ontological thought. To think through ecological crisis means moving towards philosophy as creation or art. In other words, engaging thought from the future.

Strange loops, oedipal logic, and an apophatic ecology: Reimagining critique in environmental education

“…Theories inspired by dark ecology have also destabilized many temporal imageries of EE and praxis by taking a point of view from non-human timescapes either from the future or the past. This is to cultivate an imagination that is much needed in responding to the enormous scales and complexities inherent in the ecological disasters of the Anthropocene (Bazzul, 2019). In recent EE theories employing dark ecology, such vantage points are found especially in dystopian novels and films or horror fiction (Lysgaard et al, 2019;Wallin, 2017).…”