International Ecoliteracy Research Festival
International Ecoliteracy Research Festival
Date and location: August 14-15 at Himmelbjerggaarden in Ry, Denmark.
The festival celebrates the meeting of people, nature, and life-friendly visions for the future. Through presentations, workshops, play, and communal activities, we aim to create a space for dialogue, learning, and action. It will be an outdoor festival, centering the more-than-human world without extensive use of electronical devises – dress and plan accordingly
Keyfriends:
- Malou Juelskjær invites participants to an experimental workshop on deep-time sensing, soil-work, and terra-pi – where care practices in vulnerable landscapes will be explored.
- Peta White and Jo Raphael facilitate Imagining Tomorrow, a creative workshop on how art and interdisciplinary approaches can empower youth in the face of the climate crisis.
- Jamie McPhie guides participants through Interview With ‘the Other’ – a playful exploration of nature-culture relations through creative writing and dialogue.
- Nikolaj Elf, Jonas Lysgaard and Mathilda Brückner, and others host workshops and a panel debate about their research project Green Transition in Primary Education, funded by the Independent Research Fund Denmark (DFF).
- Nanna Jordt Jørgensen presents Playing with the Politics of Sticks, a workshop on children’s encounters with natural materials and how these can inspire new political imaginaries of sustainability.
- Steen Nepper and colleagues discuss new materialismin a panel debate.
- Nadia Rathje, Bob Jickling, and Peta White reflect on major trends and foundational thinkers in the field of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD).
- Mikka Mallow and Linda Lapina lead an Embodied Mapping Workshop, where participants explore their connection to nature through sensory movement and embodied practices. This workshop challenges the boundaries between active/passive and civilization/nature, opening up new ways of listening to landscapes and their silences.
- Rebekka Sæter, Jo Raphael, and Linda Lapina host a roundtable titled Exploring Ecoliteracy through Arts-based Methods. This session explores how engaging the senses, emotions, and bodies through creative practices can foster multiple forms of knowing, positioning ecoliteracy as a co-creative and transformative process beyond factual knowledge.
- Anne Dorte Michelsen will be a guest at the festival, engaging in a conversation about nature connectedness, cultural heritage, and the living inspiration behind her music, in dialogue with agricultural philosopher John Martin Pedersen.
Organizers:
- Centre for Understanding Human Relationships with the Environment (CUHRE), part of the SDU Climate Cluster (SCC) at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU)
- Center for Basic Education Research at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU)
- Centre for Regenerating Futures at Deakin University in Australia