LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 22:10 October 2022
ISSN 1930-2940

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         B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         T. Deivasigamani, Ph.D.
         Pammi Pavan Kumar, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.

Managing Editor & Publisher: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.

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TRANSNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES IN THE ACADEMY:
AN EXPLORATION OF CLIMATE CHANGE EDUCATION THROUGH ARTS AND HUMANITIES IN CANADA AND BANGLADESH

AZMI AZAM

Abstract

The aim of this Major Research Project is to investigate transnational perspectives of university teachers (in Bangladesh and Canada) who are currently teaching climate change education through texts from Arts and Humanities and different teaching strategies. The emphasis is given on the emergence of teaching climate change education in the context of South-Asian countries like Bangladesh. A comparison with the teaching context of Canada helps us to understand the importance of climate change education at university level worldwide. Through this study, I aim to find a means of encompassing these methods into my teaching pedagogy and future research. I am interested in how these wisdoms have an impact on overall student learning in an effort to promote climate change education and how students could learn more from the local communities of climate refugees.

To proceed the study, I have used an auto-ethnography qualitative research method and interviewed four professors. I have given my own experiences and viewpoints as a student along with the professors’ teaching tactics and suggestions. In the thematic data analysis, four themes came out: place-based education, institutional structures-curriculum and courses (including interdisciplinary), compassion and empathy, environmental landscapes in fiction and Non-fictions. The research showed that all the professors carry more or less the same notion. All of them showed equal importance to climate change education and they believe it needs more attention in academic sectors. They all considered such an approach as a multipurposed education system that can facilitate holistic development by affecting students’ psychological conception of the world around them, especially in the present post-pandemic situation.

Introduction

Environmental change is a burning concern for all scholars and educators of the 21st century. The rapid increase of the climate crisis is a global topic of discussion. News networks continuously show devastating effects of climate changes on agriculture, natural resources, food consumption, and so on. Human actions and their regular ingrained habits are the main causes of today’s climate crisis. It is evident that humanity's increased use of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas to generate electricity, usage of transport, power manufacturing and rapid increase of industrialization resulted in the present crisis of climate change. Under such circumstances, it seems obvious that universities must step forward with academic plans to educate the youth regarding these factors. Universities can help cultivate awareness and sense of responsibility in the new generation to tackle the climate emergency and build a sustainable world. By navigating the new realities of climate change, universities can incorporate academic lesson-plans to educate students on climate change education and sustainability topics to fight for climate justice on a global scale. If we evaluate a country based on it’s most needed education requirements, we will find that climate change education is in high demand for all sorts of students around the world.

As a former South-Asian undergraduate student and a teacher, I have noticed that despite the urgency of teaching youth about this burning issue, many universities in South-Asia and many other parts of the world are still not giving this subject sufficient attention. During my undergraduate studies in English literature and language, I realized that using arts and humanities subjects, like English literature, could be very effective to teach climate change education to youth. Most of the settings and themes in literature carry various natural landscapes and climatic changes which I think can be used as examples for teaching climate change education in the classroom. As a South-Asian by birth and with my experiences so far, I would say that despite having interesting initiatives in many fields and subjects, some South-Asian academics are still missing the idea to give climate change education top priority in the academic curriculums.

This Major Porject Report has 6 Chapters followed by a list of references and an Appendix

Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Literature Review
Chapter 3: Research Methodology
Chapter 4: University Professors
Chapter 5: Thematic Analysis
Chapter 6: Conclusion
References
Appendix-A

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.


Azmi Azam
Lecturer at North South University, Bangladesh
MA in English Literature, Cambridge, Anglia Ruskin University, England
M.Ed. in Higher Education, York University, Toronto, Canada
(Degree Seeking) PhD in Higher Education and
Graduate Research Assistant, University of Arizona, Tucson , USA
azmiazam88@gmail.com
azmiazam@arizona.edu
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