Awakening Sleepy Knowledge: Extrarational Pedagogies and Transformative Learning in Environmental Justice Education

Centuries of settler-colonial capitalist hegemony have deeply embedded violent paradigms of separation and hierarchy in our societal structures and internalized ideologies, ultimately manifesting in global climate justice crises. We argue, therefore, that addressing the socio-ecological catastrophes we currently face necessitates an inclusive engagement with a diversity of ways of knowing often overlooked or actively repressed by dominant epistemologies. Dismantling oppressive structures begins with critically examining how they manifest within our habits of mind so we can then see beyond them—to capture what was lost, what is hidden, and what could be. Drawing on a diversity of theories, this largely conceptual paper calls for the (re)introduction of pedagogies that engage our creativity and extrarational senses to help transform our perspectives toward environmental justice. Extrarational pedagogies provide space to challenge dominant paradigms, empathetically experiment with creative alternatives, increase learners’ sense of agency, and overturn the notion that we are powerless to change our circumstances. Such pedagogies promote perspective shifts toward solidarity, compassionate accountability, and an increased awareness of the interconnectivity of our collective survival and well-being.