Fostering EfS Connections for Community Wellbeing …
437
build local momentum for EfS. Drawing upon Bourdieu’s (1986) theoretical lens of
cultural capital, we develop insights into how SRs can propel agendas of sustainability
in local communities. Finally, we explore how the SRs’ entanglements with EfSTas
opened up powerful opportunities for the SRs to activate and enact their cultural
capital in ways which enhance community wellbeing.
2 Education for Sustainability Tasmania: A Regional
Centre of Expertise—A Complex Entanglement
EfSTas is a recently recognised Regional Centre of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development (UNRCE), and here we attempt to make explicit some of the
complex entanglements which characterise this network and enables the types of
opportunities outlined in the case studies (United Nations University n.d.). Specifically within this account, we focus on the role of SRs in the EfSTas network, while
at the same time exploring the dialectic of SRs and community activities using the
two case studies.
EfSTas is a collaborative network that brings together the strengths of existing
individuals and organisations within Tasmania currently working towards addressing
challenges linked to environmental, economic and sociocultural sustainability. Under
the UNRCE umbrella, Tasmania is conceptualised as a living laboratory to explore
ways to work towards sustainability, with education as a central tool. The vision of
EfSTas is to advance Tasmania as an interconnected and diverse sustainable island
state that is able to adapt and respond to environmental, economic, social and cultural
challenges. EfSTas aims to help overcome the sustainability challenges faced by the
region, to create a healthier, environmentally and culturally sustainable, and more
equitable Tasmanian community. In so doing, EfSTas makes a significant contribution
to the global learning space for EfS as an experimental test bed to explore new models
of sustainability principles and practice.
The entanglement of EfSTas is made possible by members contributing to mutually beneficial projects under the auspices of EfSTas. The case studies introduced in
the next section are indicative of the types of projects facilitated through connections
within EfSTas.
3 Methodology
We use case studies (Denzin and Lincoln 1994) as a means of exploring the entangled
relations of SRs in communities and in particular to focus on the activation of SR cultural capital. We locate our theoretical positioning as valuing multiple knowledges,
drawing on the concept of ‘an ecology of knowledges’ (De Sousa Santos 2007) to
value the “epistemological diversity of the world, the recognition of the existence of
437
build local momentum for EfS. Drawing upon Bourdieu’s (1986) theoretical lens of
cultural capital, we develop insights into how SRs can propel agendas of sustainability
in local communities. Finally, we explore how the SRs’ entanglements with EfSTas
opened up powerful opportunities for the SRs to activate and enact their cultural
capital in ways which enhance community wellbeing.
2 Education for Sustainability Tasmania: A Regional
Centre of Expertise—A Complex Entanglement
EfSTas is a recently recognised Regional Centre of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development (UNRCE), and here we attempt to make explicit some of the
complex entanglements which characterise this network and enables the types of
opportunities outlined in the case studies (United Nations University n.d.). Specifically within this account, we focus on the role of SRs in the EfSTas network, while
at the same time exploring the dialectic of SRs and community activities using the
two case studies.
EfSTas is a collaborative network that brings together the strengths of existing
individuals and organisations within Tasmania currently working towards addressing
challenges linked to environmental, economic and sociocultural sustainability. Under
the UNRCE umbrella, Tasmania is conceptualised as a living laboratory to explore
ways to work towards sustainability, with education as a central tool. The vision of
EfSTas is to advance Tasmania as an interconnected and diverse sustainable island
state that is able to adapt and respond to environmental, economic, social and cultural
challenges. EfSTas aims to help overcome the sustainability challenges faced by the
region, to create a healthier, environmentally and culturally sustainable, and more
equitable Tasmanian community. In so doing, EfSTas makes a significant contribution
to the global learning space for EfS as an experimental test bed to explore new models
of sustainability principles and practice.
The entanglement of EfSTas is made possible by members contributing to mutually beneficial projects under the auspices of EfSTas. The case studies introduced in
the next section are indicative of the types of projects facilitated through connections
within EfSTas.
3 Methodology
We use case studies (Denzin and Lincoln 1994) as a means of exploring the entangled
relations of SRs in communities and in particular to focus on the activation of SR cultural capital. We locate our theoretical positioning as valuing multiple knowledges,
drawing on the concept of ‘an ecology of knowledges’ (De Sousa Santos 2007) to
value the “epistemological diversity of the world, the recognition of the existence of