Amy Cutter Mackenzie Knowles, Speaker at Climate Change Conference
Southern Cross University, Australia
Title : Climate Child: New Imaginaries in a Posthuman World

Abstract:

Children are growing up in increasingly precarious times, as rates of anthropogenic climate change, loss of biodiversity, human overpopulation, ubiquitous computation, and biotechnological interventions continue to advance and proliferate with alarming frequency. New theoretical, methodological and pedagogical approaches are needed that are responsive to the rapidly changing conditions of the Anthropocene epoch, a time in which humanity has become a geophysical force that is fundamentally altering the Earth’s ecological systems (Steffen et al, 2015). The convergence of social, technological, and natural systems has produced what many scholars of childhood now describe as a “posthuman” condition, in which both the biological and cultural figurations of the “child” are being drastically reconfigured and destabilised under conditions of climatic, political, and ecological instability. 

How are children’s climate change imaginaries shifting in response to the rapidly changing conditions of life in the Anthropocene? How might children themselves contribute to this re-imagining of climate change futures, in ways that open up new climate imaginaries and potentials for future co-existence? This keynote address responds directly to these questions by drawing upon an international research program, entitled Climate Change + Me involving 150+ youth co-researchers.

Biography:

Amy Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles is a Professor of Sustainability, Environment and Education at Southern Cross University.  She is the Executive Dean of the Faculty of Education, as well as the Research Leader of the ‘Sustainability, Environment and the Arts in Education’ (SEAE) Research Cluster. Amy’s research centres on climate change, childhoodnature, posthuman philosophy, and child-framed research methodologies. She is particularly focussed on the pivot points between environmental education, science, philosophy, and the Arts. She has led over 40 national/international research projects and published more than 150 publications. Amy has been recognised for both her teaching and research excellence in environmental education, including an Australian Teaching Excellence Award (OLT) and an Australian Association for Environmental Education Fellowship (Life Achievement Award) for her outstanding contribution to environmental education research.

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