Disruptions at the edges: Ecotone crossing with Black and Indigenous creative pedagogues

Abstract

Abstract In this article, I lean toward the ecological site of ecotone and the act of crossing to think about the pedagogical decisions I made as a scholar and practitioner teaching Black studies and English education classes. Within the classroom, I suggest centering Black and Indigenous women’s poetry to help students think about interdependence, ecological precarity, and ethical engagements. Black and Indigenous poets invite us to move beyond our disciplines into a cultivated ecotone, or space where we can unearth anti-Blackness in environmental education and invite intellectual curiosity and self-reflection. What is documented here is how I used my location between two disciplines, and intellectual curiosity in other fields/disciplines, to activate ecotonal crossings with my students that can move us toward more transformative ways of teaching, learning, and knowing.