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Situating Systems Thinking Between Past & Future: Hannah

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Situating Systems Thinking Between Past & Future: Hannah A Multicultural Interdisciplinary Inquiry Situating Systems Thinking between Past & Future Hannah Arendt’s Discourse on the Multicultural “World” Chanthou Thoeun There is by now a devastating cata- Lupinacci, 2011). What can be no longer promote a network of interrelationships logue of evidence revealing the depth and hidden from public consciousness is that among developed and underdeveloped breadth of corporate sponsored, govern- the earth’s natural resources cannot sus- nations, functioning instead as an exten- ment sanctioned acts of violence against tain the excessive consumption habits, sion of corporations’ and governments’ the environment across the globe. British persistent exploitation of human labor, expansion through acts of neo-imperial- Petroleum’s (BP) oil spill, for instance, is a and willful degradation and depletion of ism. The systemic nature of the assault testament to large-scale catastrophic eco- resources, particularly in underdeveloped on the environment and its testimony to logical damages resulting from corporate nations: the world is collapsing. That the the rise of mammoth-like corporations overexpansion and systemic ecological ecological crisis continues to be rendered has been largely underestimated by ignorance (Martusewicz, Edmundsun, & inconsequential at the structural level mainstream media and politics. Given depicts a disturbing image of our society; the urgency of the ecological crisis that all we are a society stuck in the midst of an levels of society face, a paradigmatic shift Chanthou Thoeun is a teacher ecological crisis that tests our values, toward restructuring politics, economics, of advanced placement English ideology, politics, and education. Beyond and education must take place to ensure and English language development exposing the corruption of a society that episodes such as the BP oil spill can be in the Stockton Unified School District privileges capitalism and progress and eradicated. and a doctoral candidate fails to protect and conserve the earth’s Placed within a historical context, in currciulum and instruction ecological networks, the continued exploi- we can observe that collective awareness at the Benerd School of Education tation of natural resources attests to the of the commons, the network of natural at the University of the Pacific, manner in which globalization fails to resources and human practices that sus- Stockton, California. FALL 2013 7 Sustainability Education tain the earth in the face of unrelenting ticultural education and environmental Toward a Common Theory globalization (Bowers, 2002), have given education share key ideas that undergird As society becomes fragmented along way to large-scale hyper-consumerism and both approaches to education: (1) the im- multiple lines of difference due to the excessive individualism that feeds capital- portance of a local and global multicultural proliferation of technology, capitalism, and ism at the expense of shared mores about context; (2) the importance of seeking so- migration—forced or volunteered—the sustaining life for the future. However, to cial justice in the act of educating; and (3) feasibility of conceptualizing “world” and speak of suturing the ecological crisis by the call to reform education in response “environment” seems nearly effete. The restructuring politics and economics is to hegemonic and often damaging ways notion of one’s place is both mutable and beyond the scope of this article; however of knowing (Banks, 2007; Banks & Banks, transient, constantly changing due to the I maintain that through education we 2009; Nieto, 2000). Arendt’s philosophy has overwhelming forces of capitalism and can begin to address the local and global only recently been unearthed by scholars globalization. Orr (2004) refers to people ecological crises systematically through and applied to environmental studies who experience this lack of place, home, multicultural educational pedagogies. In (Chapman, 2007; Ott, 2009; Whiteman, and belonging as “de-placed,” or “mental particular, the manner in which teachers 1994) at the same time that educational refugees” whose disconnection from nature are trained to become knowledgeable and researchers (Hinchliffe, 2010; Levinson, is not unfamiliar to the homeless (p. 162). informed scholars can initiate a series 2012; Mackler, 2010) now turn to her work of actions that resist social injustices, particularly environmental exploitation (Nieto, 2000). Embracing multicultural Embracing multicultural education as a system education as a system of networks con- of networks connecting professors, teachers, students, necting professors, teachers, students, and and parents with community and environment, parents with community and environment, I argue that inculcating teacher education programs I argue that inculcating teacher education with theoretical knowledge relative to ecological intelligence programs with theoretical knowledge relative to ecological intelligence plays a plays a critical role in addressing the culturally rooted environmental crisis. critical role in addressing the culturally rooted environmental crisis. In addition, we must broaden the field to gain another layer of understanding This threat to what constitutes place of multicultural education to include sys- about educating teachers and students. magnifies challenges in moving society tems thinking and the current ecological Given the concurrent development toward a systematic consciousness of place crisis. Scholars of multicultural education of these particular strands in relation to in economics, politics, and education. Ap- assert that multicultural education arms the analysis of Arendt’s oeuvre, it seems proximately one in every eight adults is students with skills and knowledge to en- natural to bridge the discussion between an immigrant while 25% of the nation’s gage in their local and global community, Arendt’s thoughts about nature and mul- children are born to immigrant parents while remaining cognizant of social justice ticultural education. Nonetheless, the (Baum & Flores, 2011). Set against this issues endemic to globalization (Banks, manner in which Arendt’s conception of context of hyper-immigration, the concepts 2007; Banks & Banks, 2009; Nieto, 2000). the world enlarges epistemological under- of world and place are constantly being To this end, I utilize a theoretical lens to standings for what Bowers (2002) terms tested by adaptation and assimilation into juxtapose and ultimately link systems the commons within the context of educa- America’s consumer-based and materialis- thinking and critical theory through Han- tion has largely been left unexamined. In tically driven culture. Educators are now nah Arendt’s conception of “wordlessness” addition, Arendt’s place in critical theory being challenged to rethink the roles and to prevent the world from further collapse. situates her work in the middle of an on- responsibilities of schools and colleges of By juxtaposing Arendt’s texts with texts on going debate between scholars concerned education in preparing teachers to educate education for sustainability, the following with the ecological crisis and scholars of students for living in an era of increasing inquiry based questions arise: In what critical pedagogy. environmental decay and perpetual dis- ways does the work of Arendt inform issues My intention here is not to exacerbate placement (Cassell & Nelson, 2010). of multicultural education and sustain- the dissention between these two camps, Given such immense frame factors ability? Furthermore, how is Arendt’s dis- namely Bowers (2003; 2006) and followers that consistently work against building course on the “world” and “worldlessness” of John Dewey and Paulo Freire (McLaren, common language with which to discuss used to think about and conceptualize 2007). I utilize Arendt’s work because she place and environment, it is absolutely nec- educating students for sustainability in a offers relevant insights about humans, the essary to provide a framework with which multicultural world? world, and multicultural education; read- to address these issues of sustainability ing Arendt against scholars of sustainabil- education systematically. Indicating this ity education (Bednar, 2003, 2004, 2006; Why Arendt, Why Now, need for a common theoretical framework, Cassell & Nelson, 2010; Martusewicz, Why Multicultural Education? sustainability education is fraught with Edmundsun, & Lupinacci, 2011; Orr, 2004; buzzwords and hot terms (“environmental- Quite simply, Arendt’s few contribu- Stone & Barlow, 2005;) demonstrates the ism” and “greening”) that become co-opted tions to environmental studies on sustain- manner in which sustainability education by a corporate marketed consumer culture ability have not been noticeably linked to can co-exist with critical pedagogy within in ways that reinforce superficial thinking current discourse around environmental the framework of systems thinking. sustainability, particularly within the field at the macro level (McFarlane & Ogazon, of multicultural education. However, mul- 2011). Sustainability cannot become sys- MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION 8 A Multicultural Interdisciplinary Inquiry temic practice if a common discourse with Accordingly, the development of a theo- with worldly ideas, practices and institu- which to talk about place, environment, retical framework in relation to sustainabil- tions (Whiteside, 1994). While it may seem and multicultural education does not exist ity education must emerge from a
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