ERIC Number: EJ1482528
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025
Pages: 29
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1350-4622
EISSN: EISSN-1469-5871
Available Date: 0000-00-00
Anna/Akka Paulo Freire and Other Green Heroes: How Child-Authors Represent Environmental Educators in Storybooks
Environmental Education Research, v31 n9 p1818-1846 2025
This qualitative research uses an ecopedagogy and decolonial lens to explore how child-authors represented environmental educators as characters in ecofiction/climate fiction storybooks. Thirty storybooks authored by 10-15-year olds were thematically analyzed. Data from interviews, focus group discussions (FGD), reflections, and blogposts were used to confirm understanding. In 11 of the books, the young authors introduced protagonists, supporters, or minor characters based on environmental educators. The characters were "Green Heroes," different from regular adults or teachers; "Paulo Freires" in that they aided the protagonists, and indirectly the readers, to critically understand environmental and climate injustices; and "Anna/Akkas" (elder brother or sister), profoundly Tamil. The representations broaden the colonial and adultist narratives about the Anthropocene by foregrounding childist voices from the Global South. The findings are also a call for adults to incorporate childist perceptions of adult educators into pedagogy, and more importantly into our adult selves to aid our formation and our re-formation.
Descriptors: Childrens Literature, Authors, Early Adolescents, Environmental Education, Perspective Taking, Role Models
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 530 Walnut Street Suite 850, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Tel: 215-625-8900; Fax: 215-207-0050; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research; Tests/Questionnaires
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: 1School of Education, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia; 2Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA

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