EBAN Conference 2024

• We are now inviting conference participants and other interested researchers to contribute to a publication on the theme. The publication will be peer-reviewed. The format depends on the response of this call.
• You announce your interest by sending in a short abstract of approx. 200 words no later than June 20, 2024 . Our ambition is to have a publication ready in the fall of 2025. The abstract must relate to the questions raised by EBAN. Please send the abstract to: sofia.wijkmark@kau.se

The Anthropocene concept denotes not only the realities of endangered Earth systems but also the many controversies surrounding this predicament’s interpretation and conceptualisation. Hence, it reflects education’s need to address both the factual consequences and the normative questions of guilt, justice, ecojustice and human self-understanding, to which the Bildung dimension is central. The notion of Bildung can encompass – on the one hand – modernistic ideals about emancipating from nature’s restrictions and – on the other hand – potential foundations upon which to reimagine alternative social organisations and human self-understanding. Hence, in relation to the Anthropocene, Bildung denotes layers of tensions in education as an individual or societal project, as a project of cultural socialisation or constant critical questioning.

Our network also relates takes an interest in subject education and the role of specialised knowledge. While the Anthropocene challenges many disciplinary epistemologies, its implications for subject-based education are not self-evident. Generally, education for sustainable development and environmental humanities focuses on the importance of transcending disciplines to identify ways of addressing environmental change. EBAN takes a complementary interest in how specialisation also offers powerful tools to transcend everyday experiences and think new thoughts.

This is a call for publication to explore the tensions that the Anthropocene pose for Bildung and subject didactics. The overarching questions are:

• In what ways can Bildung during the Anthropocene, be an ideal cultivation goal to re-imagine possible futures?
• How can the dynamics between the Anthropocene, Bildung, and education be regarded, and what epistemological implications might result for education?
• In what ways can the nature of specialised knowledge in relation to the Anthropocene drive new curriculum principles and manifest in teacher transformations within and across disciplines and school subjects?