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Ecological Literacy, Environmental Ethics and Contextual Conceptions of Education: the Case of Shia People of Fashapooyeh Village, Tehran County, Iran

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Ecological Literacy, Environmental Ethics and Contextual Conceptions of Education: the Case of Shia People of Fashapooyeh Village, Tehran County, Iran ECOLOGICAL LITERACY, ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS AND CONTEXTUAL CONCEPTIONS OF EDUCATION: THE CASE OF SHIA PEOPLE OF FASHAPOOYEH VILLAGE, TEHRAN COUNTY, IRAN by Mahtab Eskandari A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in The Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (Curriculum Studies) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) April, 2020 © Mahtab Eskandari, 2020 i The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, a thesis/dissertation entitled: Ecological Literacy, Environmental Ethics And Contextual Conceptions Of Education: The Case Of Shia People Of Fashapooyeh Village, Tehran County, Iran. Submitted by Mahtab Eskandari in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Curriculum Studies. Examining Committee: Dr. Samson M. Nashon, Professor, Curriculum and Pedagogy, University of British Columbia. Research Supervisor Dr. Tracy Friedel, Associate Professor, Curriculum and Pedagogy, UBC. Research Committee Member Dr. Sayyed Mohsen Fatemi, Adjunct Faculty, Psychology, York University. Research Committee Member Dr. Hartej Gill, Associate Professor, Educational Studies, UBC. University Examiner Dr. Susan Gerofsky, Associate Professor, Curriculum and Pedagogy, UBC. University Examiner ii Abstract The main questions addressed in this study are in the domains of ecological literacy, environmental ethics and contextual conceptions of education. Hence the study uses the case of Shia people of Iran and their environmental ethics to investigate the trans-historical realities in conceptualizing science-humanism in association with dominant notions of nature, the environment and ecology. In particular, special focus is directed at understandings and practices associated with environmental education in the context of local Shia people in Fashapooyeh, a traditional village in the county of Tehran in Iran. Major cultural ways of education existing in this context were explored, and their relation to contextual ontologies were examined. Thus, methodologically, the study employed articulation of dis-orientalising strategies in order to avoid oriental dogmas with respect to the particular context of the study. In this way, interpretive analytic case study methods, which drew heavily on critical ethnographic methods of field observations and interviews, were used in data collection. Revelations from the analysis of the data corpus include 1) among Shia people, actions towards/about/for/with nature are governed by ethics of religion, and they are governed by the Shia conception of humanism; 2) Everyday life schedules are interestingly governed by key calendar markers where contemporary discourses are a function of interaction between Indigeneity and modernity; 3) The Shia understanding of life is in close relation with understanding the order of nature, and that Shia identity and environmental health practices are not mutually exclusive. The findings challenge the current dominant concept of ecological literacy and its foundational preoccupation of nature, the environment, cosmos citizenship, balance and specifically the notion of literacy. iii These findings or revelations suggest new perspectives on conceptualizing ecological literacy in relation to ontological approaches to contemporary cultures. The outcomes challenge current dominant approaches to the concept of sustainability, and offer insight into how we might re- conceptualize and teach sustainability as a way of life grounded in their relative contextual ontologies. In the realm of Indigenous studies, the findings suggest processes of theorizing and analyzing research in respect to their particular contextual ethics and ontologies. iv Lay Summary Being a traveling teacher with a background in science, education and social studies, I have designed this research study as an opportunity to investigate environmental ethics in relation to the culture in which they are situated. The definition of culture, here, adopts a broad meaning in relation to understanding life, the meaning of being, and also the practices that emerge from these understandings. The selected participants are a group of marginalized people who voluntarily identify themselves as practicing Shia Moslems. Their understanding of definitions of nature, the environment and ecology are investigated. On the other hand, their rituals and practices are examined in association with environmental ethics. In the realm of education, Shia peoples’ ways of knowing and learning about their version of environmental ethics are explored. v Preface This dissertation is an original intellectual product of the author, Mahtab Eskandari. The fieldwork reported in the Appendices was covered by UBC Ethics Certificate number H16- 01815. The author has identified and designed the research study. The author has performed data collection, interview design and interview conduct, translation, transcription and analysis of the research data. vi Table of Contents Abstract………………………………………………………………………………………….iii Lay Summary…………………………………………………………………………...………..v Preface…………………………………………………………………………………...……….vi Table of Contents……………………………………………………………………………….vii Acknowledgements ………………………………………………………………………...….xvi Dedication…………………………………………………………………………………...…xvii 1 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION...……………………………...….……………..1 1.1 Domain of Education………………………………………………………………..3 1.2 Contextual Approaches in the Domain of Education...…………………...…..…..4 1.3 Researcher’s Background…………………………………………………………..5 1.4 Particularities of the Research Context………………..…………………………..8 1.5 Purpose of the Research……...………………………………………..…………..10 1.6 Significance of the Study...…………………………………………………..……17 2 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW……………………………..…………20 2.1 Pragmatics of the Concept of Ecology……..………………………………….….21 2.2 Humanism and Ecology……………………………………………………………22 2.3 Contemporary Conceptions of Ecological Literacy……………..…………….…24 2.4 Situating Contemporary Concepts of Ecological Literacy………………………26 vii 2.5 Ontological Discourses on Ecology...……………………………………………...28 2.5.1 Eco-criticism…………………………………….…………………………29 2.5.1.1 Bateson’s Critique……………….……………………..……...…29 2.5.1.2 Nasr’s Critique…………...…………………………………..…..33 2.6 Ecological Literacy and Sustainability Discourses………….………………..….33 2.7 Sustainability in Political Discourses of Globalization………..……………..…..34 2.8 Corporate Sustainability and Discourses of Power…………………………....…36 2.9 Corporate Sustainability in Iranian Context………………..……………………36 2.10 Context-based Research Against Corporate Sustainability………………...…..37 2.5.2 Drawing on Eco-theology in Re-conceptualizing Eco-literacy………….38 2.5.2.1 Shia Islamic Conception of Ecological Literacy………….....…38 2.5.2.2 Ontological Discourses and Environmental Crisis………...….38 2.5.2.3 Religious Historicism………………..…………………………..39 2.5.2.4 Environmental Crisis and Religions………….……………..…41 2.11 Educational Theories and Contextually Situated Worldviews………………….45 2.12 Education in Context of Iran…………………………………...………………....47 2.12.1 Pre-Islamic Era in Iran…………………………………………...……….47 2.12.1.1 Conceptualization of Education in Pre-Islamic Iran……….....47 2.12.1.2 Modes of Education in Pre-Islamic Iran………………...….....48 viii 2.12.1.2.1 The State-centered Paradigm……………….……..48 2.12.1.2.2 The Community-centered Paradigm………………49 2.12.2 The Islamic Era in Iran……………………………………...……...….50 2.12.2.1 Conceptualization of Education in Islamic Iran…………...50 2.12.2.1.1 Islamic Thought…………………………..….....52 2.12.2.1.2 Defining Shia in the Domain of Education……52 2.12.2.1.3 Shia Islamic Literacy…………..……….………55 2.12.2.1.4 Islamic Teaching…………………………...…..56 2.12.2.2 Modes of Education in Islamic Iran…………………….…...58 2.12.3 The Recent era in Iran……………...……………………………..…..59 2.12.3.1 Conceptualization and Modes of Education in Recent Iran………59 2.13. Education and New Imperialism………………...………………………….....61 2.13.1 Conceptualization of Modern Ontology-rooted Education in Iran…..63 2.13.2 Modern Education in Iran……………...………...……………….…..63 2.14. Indigenous Approaches to the Concept of Knowledge Construction………..64 2.15. Ecological Education in Contemporary Islamic Contexts……………….…...64 3 CHATER THREE: METHODOLOGY …………………………………………….68 3.1. Introduction to the Methodology…………………………………………...…….68 ix 3.1.1 Methodological Approach………………………………...……...…...….69 3.2. Ontological Appropriation……………………………...……………...……….69 3.2.1 Progressiveness……………………………………………………………72 3.2.2 Essentialism……………………………….……………….……………….72 3.3. Avoiding Oriental Methodology……………………………………………….75 3.4. Modern Orientalism……………………………………………………...……..76 3.4.1 Ecological Orientalism……………………….………………………...….77 3.4.2 Geographical Orientalism………….……………………………………...77 3.4.3 Topological Orientalism……….……………………………………….….78 3.5. Oriental Methodological Dogmas……………………………………...…...…..78 3.6. Decolonizing Strategies in Methodological Approach………………..…….…79 3.7. Methods of Approach…………………………………...………………...…….80 3.8. Critical Self-reflexivity……………………...……………………………….….83 3.9. Narrativity……………………………………………………………………….84 3.10. Narrative Analysis……………...…………………………………….………..85 3.11. Methods of Decolonization………...…………………………………..………86 3.12. Language as Discourse……………………………...………………..………..95 3.13. Data Collection………………………………………………...……………….96 x 4. CHAPTER FOUR: DATA ANALYSIS…………………..……………………..….100 4.1. Data Construction……………………………………………...……………..…100 4.1.1 Codes and Index Categories…………………….……...……………..…...100 4.1.1.1 Index Code
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