Cultivating political, ethical, and relational horizons in garden-based learning

Christopher Jadallah

In a world marked by increasing social and ecological precarity, there is an urgent need to reimagine the purpose of education and to think capaciously about designing learning environments that engender new ways of living and being in relationship with others and with the natural world. Responding to this challenge, this project takes as its primary focus the political, ethical, and relational dimensions of young people's learning and identity work as they participate in a summer garden-based learning program at an urban farm in Los Angeles, California. Specifically, I will examine the ways in which youth participants engage with various political and ethical stances toward land-based practice in relation to their previous lived experiences and cultural knowledge, their participation in various layers of coordinated interaction and activity, and the pedagogical design of the learning environment in which they are participants. I take up sociocultural theories of learning as a lens to conceptualize learning as a culturally-mediated process of shifting participation in authentic social practice. Drawing on data sources including ethnographic interviews, participant observations, and photo elicitation activities, I will construct and analyze narrative portraits of focal youth to understand their trajectories of political and ethical learning vis-à-vis their participation in urban gardening. By illuminating complex and layered processes of youth learning and sensemaking as they engage in this work, this project will help identify possible horizons for how learning environments can be designed in ways that revitalize land-based and community-based relationships in order to foster socio-ecological well-being.

About Christopher Jadallah

Chris Jadallah is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Justice in Education at the School of Education & Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. His research examines the social, cultural, and political contours of teaching and learning as youth and communities participate in land-based and community-based endeavors as part of civic life. With an eye toward issues of power and history, Jadallah takes a collaborative approach to scholarship that entails working with partners to co-design, implement, and study learning environments across a variety of contexts - from urban gardens to river restoration initiatives - that build from diverse communities' knowledges, practices, and perspectives as they work toward socio-ecological transformation. His research has been published in Journal of the Learning Sciences, Science Education, and Environmental Education Research, among other outlets. Jadallah earned his B.S. in Conservation and Resource Studies from UC Berkeley and his Ph.D. in Education from UC Davis. He is additionally a seed saver, growing and sharing Palestinian heirloom seeds with other farmers and land workers in California.