An archaeology of information landscapes?

In its modern form, information literacy was named by Zurkowski (1974), but humans have been creating and using information landscapes since prehistory. Lloyd (2010, 9-10) describes these landscapes as “intersubjectively created spaces that have resulted from human interaction, in which information is created and shared and eventually sediments as knowledge.” It can be surmised that evidence of these landscapes, even from centuries ago, should be visible in the present, including the physical structures and associated graphical and discursive maps (Whitworth 2020) that help users navigate the space and communicate practices to others. This presentation discusses an archaeological study of information landscapes both ancient and modern, based on questions such as: •What is the form of the landscape? •What practices are evident within this landscape? How do these make learning possible? •How is authority distributed over these practices? •Who has stewarded the landscape? •What knowledge ‘sediments out’ of these landscapes as they have been deposited? •How have these landscapes been made sustainable? Two landscapes will be examined in detail. First, medieval world maps, including the Map Room at the Vatican and the Mappa Mundi at Hereford, UK. These maps are oriented to helping users navigate not only the geographical landscape but the landscape of ecclesiastical authority and power. Second, the landscape emerging from the Legacies of British Slavery project (https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/). This is an example of how research and mapping conducted in the present time has revealed landscapes that were significant, but obscured by politics and power, both 200 years ago and in the present. This study shows how archaeology, in its own right, is a significant expression of information literacy. In summary, investigating landscapes and maps in this way reveals how IL can be developed through a critical pedagogy of place (Gruenewald 2008).

Intercultural education and early childhood: strengthening knowledge based on Indigenous communities and territory

Intercultural education in Chile has focused on early childhood for more than a decade. Different measures have been implemented to strength an intercultural approach in preschools. The most outstanding has been the connection of intercultural preschools with Indigenous communities. However, these educational policies have not been accompanied by adequate resources and teacher preparation, resulting in significant shortcomings in the collaboration between Indigenous communities and preschools. To address the relevance of Mapuche (People of the Land; Indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina; speakers of Mapudungun) communities in intercultural preschools, this study created and implemented a pilot initiative. Using a decolonial and critical pedagogy-of-place approach, the main findings show that educators began considering Mapuche communities beyond families, discussed the role of urban Mapuche communities, and improved ethical practices to work with Indigenous communities. These findings lead me to propose recommendations in reference to policies and teacher education.

Social, cultural, and ecological justice in the age of the Anthropocene: A New Zealand early childhood care and education perspective.

© 2016 by Jenny Ritchie. Educators have an ethical responsibility to uphold the wellbeing of the children, families and communities that they serve. This commitment becomes even more pressing as we move into the era of the Anthropocene, where human induced climate changes are disrupting the planet's systems, threatening the survival of not only humans, but of eco-systems and the earth's biodiversity. This paper draws upon examples from Aotearoa (New Zealand) to demonstrate ways in which a critical pedagogy of place informed by local traditional knowledges can inform early childhood education whilst also enhancing dispositions of empathy towards self and others, including more-than-human others.

Social, cultural, and ecological justice in the age of the Anthropocene: A New Zealand early childhood care and education perspective.

© 2016 by Jenny Ritchie. Educators have an ethical responsibility to uphold the wellbeing of the children, families and communities that they serve. This commitment becomes even more pressing as we move into the era of the Anthropocene, where human induced climate changes are disrupting the planet's systems, threatening the survival of not only humans, but of eco-systems and the earth's biodiversity. This paper draws upon examples from Aotearoa (New Zealand) to demonstrate ways in which a critical pedagogy of place informed by local traditional knowledges can inform early childhood education whilst also enhancing dispositions of empathy towards self and others, including more-than-human others.

Social, cultural, and ecological justice in the age of the Anthropocene: A New Zealand early childhood care and education perspective.

© 2016 by Jenny Ritchie. Educators have an ethical responsibility to uphold the wellbeing of the children, families and communities that they serve. This commitment becomes even more pressing as we move into the era of the Anthropocene, where human induced climate changes are disrupting the planet's systems, threatening the survival of not only humans, but of eco-systems and the earth's biodiversity. This paper draws upon examples from Aotearoa (New Zealand) to demonstrate ways in which a critical pedagogy of place informed by local traditional knowledges can inform early childhood education whilst also enhancing dispositions of empathy towards self and others, including more-than-human others.

Social, cultural, and ecological justice in the age of the Anthropocene: A New Zealand early childhood care and education perspective.

© 2016 by Jenny Ritchie. Educators have an ethical responsibility to uphold the wellbeing of the children, families and communities that they serve. This commitment becomes even more pressing as we move into the era of the Anthropocene, where human induced climate changes are disrupting the planet's systems, threatening the survival of not only humans, but of eco-systems and the earth's biodiversity. This paper draws upon examples from Aotearoa (New Zealand) to demonstrate ways in which a critical pedagogy of place informed by local traditional knowledges can inform early childhood education whilst also enhancing dispositions of empathy towards self and others, including more-than-human others.

Marginalized Knowledges

Marginalized knowledges are the intergenerational knowledges and skills from communities worldwide that hegemonic forces have pushed to the margins of society. These include facts, beliefs, perceptions, attitudes, behaviors, and competencies. Marginalized knowledges are part of the human capital that materially poor rural and urban peoples have developed over time—both Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities. These knowledges are situated and contextualized in a given time and locality, and have evolved to fulfill economic, social, environmental, spiritual, or cultural needs. School systems worldwide in the 19th and 20th centuries adopted an official, hegemonic curriculum that ignored and displaced these vital knowledges at a great loss to poor communities. Fortunately, different pedagogies exist today (e.g., pedagogy of place; funds of knowledge; civic service) that seek to bring these knowledges to the center of school life and provide a complementary, parallel role to that of the school’s official curriculum.