Feature Articles

Becoming-Speckled Warbler: Re/creating Australian Natural History Pedagogy

Alistair Stewart^a1 c1

^a1 La Trobe University

Abstract

The speckled warbler and other woodland birds of south-eastern Australia have declined dramatically since European settlement; many species are at risk of becoming locally and/or nationally extinct. Coincidently, Australian environmental education research of the last decade has largely been silent on the development of pedagogy that refects the natural history of this continent (Stewart, 2006). The current circumstances that face the speckled warbler, I argue, is emblematic of both the state of woodland birds of south-eastern Australia, and the condition of natural history pedagogy within Australian environmental education research. In this paper I employ Deleuze and Guattari's (1987) philosophy “becoming-animal” to explore ways that the life and circumstances of the speckled warbler might inform natural history focused Australian environmental education research. The epistemology and ontology of becoming-speckled warbler offers a basis to reconsider and strengthen links between Australian natural history pedagogy and notions of sustainability.

Keywords:

• natural history;
• becoming;
• Deleuze;
• pedagogy

Correspondence:

^c1 Address for correspondence: Alistair Stewart, Lecturer, Outdoor and Environmental Education, Faculty of Education, La Trobe University, PO Box 199, Bendigo, Victoria 3552, Australia. Email: a.stewart@latrobe.edu.au

Alistair Stewart is a Lecturer and Course Coordinator in Outdoor and Environmental Education in the Faculty of Education, La Trobe University. His research interests include natural and cultural history of place-focused outdoor and environmental education.