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- Abrahamsson, Oskar, 1989
(författare)
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Walking with non-humans: Exploring meaningful encounters during excursions to recreational landscapes
- 2022
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Ingår i: Multiple Nordic Geographies: 9th Nordic Geographers Meeting.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- There has been argued that the (post)modern society, where more people than ever before dwell in densely populated areas, suffers from an “extinction of experience”; i.e. interactions between humans and non-human living organisms have decreased over time. This separation may consequently lead to an emotional detachment from more-than-human living beings and their habitats, which is problematic in times of biodiversity loss and climate change. At the same time, especially in the Nordic countries, we see a strong desire for spending time outdoors, in ‘natural’ environments. Not least has this been evident during the Covid-19 pandemic, where green spaces became a haven for leisure. This presentation aims to explore and distinguish various meaningful encounters between humans and non-humans in the context of recreational walking in green environments, characterized by seemingly low human impact. The perspective is the human point of view. Theoretically, the presentation draws on phenomenological and relational understandings of body-space encounters with an emphasis on bodily, lived experiences of space, where the so called “new walking studies” recently have contributed with empirical insights. Departing from this embodied ontology of walking, walking interviews together with recreational walkers were conducted between June to October 2021. Respondents were sampled through various Facebook-groups and organizations. Each person volunteering to participate did chose a place of interest to walk in (it could either be a place visited before by the respondents, or a place never visited). The interviews were audio recorded and completed with photographs and field notes. Recordings were thereafter transcribed, coded and thematically analyzed. The results exhibit humans’ meaningful encounter with non-humans during recreational walks, and how walkers make sense of these encounters through various categorizations and understandings of ‘nature’. Interestingly, while names on species seem unimportant among many interviewees, embodied proximity between humans and non-humans prompts meaningful moments. These moments of lived experiences “in presence” hold deep emotional qualities. In a wider context, the findings provide an empirical comprehension for humans’ everyday desires of encountering environments less impacted by humans. Lastly, methodological reflections concerning walking interviews for inquiries on body-space relations are discussed.
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- Kotze, Shelley, 1986, et al.
(författare)
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Walking as a pedagogical tool in higher education: Moving beyond COVID-19
- 2022
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Ingår i: Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Annual International Conference 2022.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, many pedagogical lessons have been drawn within higher education. However, the focus remains around digitalisation and distance education. Conversely, walking has been encouraged in everyday life throughout the pandemic, as a means of socialising, increasing health and wellbeing, and within professional environments. Whilst the use of walking as pedagogy method has been promoted within the education of younger children, its use in higher education has yet to be fully explored. Drawing upon our own experiences of teaching and being taught during the COVID-19 pandemic, and walking methodologies, this conceptual paper will discuss the potential of walking in higher education. We start from the position that walking, as a form of movement, is beneficial to learning, and outlines some of the multifaceted motivations we, as teachers (and students), have for introducing walking as pedagogy within higher education. Within this conceptual paper we explore the conceptualisation of both ‘thinking and walking’ and ‘walking and thinking’, as beneficial to academic learning and wellness respectively. Furthermore, we question whether the geographical context in which walking takes place has an influence on thinking and learning whilst walking. Finally, we offer some suggestions as to how walking pedagogies may be included in post-COVID pedagogies in higher education.
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