From Miserable Pedagogies to Anthropocene Intelligence for Universities in the Meta-Crisis
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21570534 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Robert Stratford (0000-0002-5382-0980, Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington, corresponding author), Elena Louverdis (0009-0004-7650-9193, Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington), Mike Joy (0000-0001-9826-5928, Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington), Michael Joy (0000-0001-9457-5013, Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 41 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 1154-1170 |
| Publication date | 2025-11-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Australian Journal of Environmental Education (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0814-0626 • E-ISSN: 2049-775X |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/aee.2025.10087 |
| OpenAlex | W4416774862 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 43 |
As the planet confronts an interconnected meta-crisis linked to natural, political, social, and psychological challenges, there are some pedagogical tendencies that should be challenged within university education. Drawing on the philosophical literature of the Ecological University, this article uses an eco-philosophical framework for considering mainstream university pedagogy. We emphasise that the increasing mental health challenges of so many young people at university is both a symptom and a feature of the meta-crisis and a key consideration for how we might respond as university educators. We argue that many of the existing neoliberal and liberal tendencies in university can be interpreted as “Miserable Pedagogies” — which typically fail to engage with the meta-crisis as a threat to the planet’s psychological, social, political, or natural ecosystems. We suggest that our “pedagogies of misery” need to be disrupted and radically contested with an ecological world-view we describe as “Anthropocene Intelligence.” After setting out the key features of Anthropocene Intelligence, we consider how an alternative teaching approach, used by one of the authors, reflects such an ecological worldview and potentially provides a basis for more meaningful and active ways of being and learning on this finite planet
Anthropocene · Mainstream · Project commissioning · Publishing · Digital Education and Society · Earth Systems and Cosmic Evolution · Environmental Education and Sustainability
Managing Without Growth
Prosperity without Growth
The Environmental Humanities
The Anthropocene and the Global Environmental Crisis
Economics In A Full World
Safe and just Earth system boundaries
Planetary boundaries
Towards ecological everything – The ecological university, ecological subjectivity and the ecological curriculum
Assessing the suitability of sustainability frameworks for embedding sustainability in higher education curricula
Five moves towards an ecological university
From Pseudo to Genuine Sustainability Education
Wild Pedagogies in Practice
The Toxic University
Zombies in Western Culture
Ecological Thinking
Young People’s Mental Health
Confronting the dilemma of growth. A response to
Planetary health as a troubling concept for the ecological university
Is Green Growth Possible
The contradiction of the sustainable development goals
Post-truth, political ecology and education
The Politics of the Anthropocene
Brief History of Neoliberalism
Sustaining the unsustainable
The governance of unsustainability
Why Has Critique Run out of Steam? From Matters of Fact to Matters of Concern
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |