A media arts-based praxis process of building towards a relational model of curriculum oriented towards reconciliation through water justice

Authors

  • Sarah Van Borek Rhodes University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.35293/jdd.v1i2.35

Keywords:

water, reconcilitation, relational, media arts, decolonising education

Abstract

A PhD student shares part of her arts-based praxis process of developing a relational model of curriculum oriented towards reconciliation in Canada and South Africa by reflecting on a pilot course she offered at a university in Canada in 2018. This site-specific, media arts-based environmental education is intended for universities committed to walking the talk of decolonising education. Centered around water as a mirror of the state of our social relations and democracy, which it seeks to transform, the curriculum also facilitates public education and dialogue around the importance of healthy waterways amidst the pressures of climate change. Using a set of questions as a data analysis tool combined with narrative analysis of students’ videos, the researcher outlines the three most prominent relational sensibilities and abilities towards reconciliation cultivated by students through the program: (1) Knowledge Ecologies; (2) A Hopeful Social Imaginary; and  (3) Embodied Ways of Knowing.

Author Biography

  • Sarah Van Borek, Rhodes University
    Sarah Van Borek is a Canadian-born, Cape Town-based media artist, educator and PhD scholar in environmental education at Rhodes University, South Africa. Sarah has been a faculty member of Canada’s top art and design institute, the Emily Carr University of Art + Design, since 2012. She has designed and implemented project-based university courses towards social and ecological justice in collaboration with a wide range of museums: Museum of Vancouver, Vancouver Maritime Museum, Courtenay & District Museum, Gulf of Georgia Cannery, Beaty Biodiversity Museum, and the Apartheid Museum. Sarah has been producing films and social practice media works for more than 15 years. Her work has been featured in film festivals and on television and has won numerous awards. Sarah’s passion for African music, film and sustainable development has taken her work to Gabon, Zambia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Mauritania and Mali. Sarah provides customised training and support in digital storytelling for research, education and advocacy across a variety of sectors. For her doctoral research, Sarah is using an arts-based praxis process to develop a relational model of [site-specific, media arts based] environmental education towards reconciliation in Canada and South Africa.

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Published

2021-02-22

Issue

Vol. 1 No. 2 (2019)

Section

Articles

How to Cite

A media arts-based praxis process of building towards a relational model of curriculum oriented towards reconciliation through water justice. (2021). Journal of Decolonising Disciplines, 1(2), 6-51. https://doi.org/10.35293/jdd.v1i2.35