Dismantling Human Supremacy: Ecopedagogy and Self-Rewilding as Pathways to Embodied Ethics and Cross-Species Solidarity

This paper examines the urgent need for a transformative shift in environmental ethics education, specifically challenging the pervasive ideology of human supremacy that shapes contemporary pedagogical approaches. Following ecopedagogy and the critical pedagogy movements, it critiques current educat...

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Main Authors: Shoshana McIntosh, Andrea Natan Feltrin
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: LED Edizioni Universitarie 2025-04-01
Series:Relations
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.ledonline.it/index.php/Relations/article/view/6537
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author Shoshana McIntosh
Andrea Natan Feltrin
author_facet Shoshana McIntosh
Andrea Natan Feltrin
author_sort Shoshana McIntosh
collection DOAJ
description This paper examines the urgent need for a transformative shift in environmental ethics education, specifically challenging the pervasive ideology of human supremacy that shapes contemporary pedagogical approaches. Following ecopedagogy and the critical pedagogy movements, it critiques current educational frameworks that implicitly reinforce human dominance over the more-than-human world. The paper explores the ethical consequences of disembodied, humancentered education, which alienates students from ecological realities and perpetuates environmental degradation and social inequities. In response to these challenges, the paper proposes an alternative ethical framework grounded in cross-species solidarity, relational ethics, and embodied learning. Utilizing approaches such as wild pedagogy and self-rewilding, it emphasizes the importance of immersive, hands-on educational practices that cultivate empathy, multispecies kinship, and ecological consciousness. By fostering these connections, the paper advocates for a reimagined education system that not only dismantles human supremacy but also nurtures more just, regenerative relationships between humans, other-than-human species, and ecosystems. This reorientation in environmental ethics pedagogy offers a critical pathway to confronting the interconnected ecological, social, and cultural crises of our time, while promoting long-term multispecies justice and ecological flourishing.
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publishDate 2025-04-01
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spelling doaj-art-c0194d7110fa4a9e887fdf902cfbfd5a2025-08-20T03:17:32ZengLED Edizioni UniversitarieRelations2283-31962280-96432025-04-011229711710.7358/rela-2024-02-mcfe2251Dismantling Human Supremacy: Ecopedagogy and Self-Rewilding as Pathways to Embodied Ethics and Cross-Species SolidarityShoshana McIntosh0Andrea Natan FeltrinUniversity of North TexasThis paper examines the urgent need for a transformative shift in environmental ethics education, specifically challenging the pervasive ideology of human supremacy that shapes contemporary pedagogical approaches. Following ecopedagogy and the critical pedagogy movements, it critiques current educational frameworks that implicitly reinforce human dominance over the more-than-human world. The paper explores the ethical consequences of disembodied, humancentered education, which alienates students from ecological realities and perpetuates environmental degradation and social inequities. In response to these challenges, the paper proposes an alternative ethical framework grounded in cross-species solidarity, relational ethics, and embodied learning. Utilizing approaches such as wild pedagogy and self-rewilding, it emphasizes the importance of immersive, hands-on educational practices that cultivate empathy, multispecies kinship, and ecological consciousness. By fostering these connections, the paper advocates for a reimagined education system that not only dismantles human supremacy but also nurtures more just, regenerative relationships between humans, other-than-human species, and ecosystems. This reorientation in environmental ethics pedagogy offers a critical pathway to confronting the interconnected ecological, social, and cultural crises of our time, while promoting long-term multispecies justice and ecological flourishing.https://www.ledonline.it/index.php/Relations/article/view/6537cross-species solidarityecopedagogyembodied ethicsempathyenvironmental activismenvironmental ethicshuman supremacymultispecies justiceself-rewildingwild pedagogy
spellingShingle Shoshana McIntosh
Andrea Natan Feltrin
Dismantling Human Supremacy: Ecopedagogy and Self-Rewilding as Pathways to Embodied Ethics and Cross-Species Solidarity
Relations
cross-species solidarity
ecopedagogy
embodied ethics
empathy
environmental activism
environmental ethics
human supremacy
multispecies justice
self-rewilding
wild pedagogy
title Dismantling Human Supremacy: Ecopedagogy and Self-Rewilding as Pathways to Embodied Ethics and Cross-Species Solidarity
title_full Dismantling Human Supremacy: Ecopedagogy and Self-Rewilding as Pathways to Embodied Ethics and Cross-Species Solidarity
title_fullStr Dismantling Human Supremacy: Ecopedagogy and Self-Rewilding as Pathways to Embodied Ethics and Cross-Species Solidarity
title_full_unstemmed Dismantling Human Supremacy: Ecopedagogy and Self-Rewilding as Pathways to Embodied Ethics and Cross-Species Solidarity
title_short Dismantling Human Supremacy: Ecopedagogy and Self-Rewilding as Pathways to Embodied Ethics and Cross-Species Solidarity
title_sort dismantling human supremacy ecopedagogy and self rewilding as pathways to embodied ethics and cross species solidarity
topic cross-species solidarity
ecopedagogy
embodied ethics
empathy
environmental activism
environmental ethics
human supremacy
multispecies justice
self-rewilding
wild pedagogy
url https://www.ledonline.it/index.php/Relations/article/view/6537
work_keys_str_mv AT shoshanamcintosh dismantlinghumansupremacyecopedagogyandselfrewildingaspathwaystoembodiedethicsandcrossspeciessolidarity
AT andreanatanfeltrin dismantlinghumansupremacyecopedagogyandselfrewildingaspathwaystoembodiedethicsandcrossspeciessolidarity