Narratives and the Anthropocene

Reflections on Place and Sustainability Education

Abstract

In this paper I address the role of storytelling in the Anthropocene and highlight multiple perspectives on how to tell sustainability-oriented stories while weaving in my own story. I argue that storytelling is fundamental to communicating the impacts of the Anthropocene and that efforts to link the humanities and the sciences must be woven within a narrative framework that is able to transcend, transgress, and transform deficit-driven conversations. Additionally, I highlight a new course that I recently taught with respect to applying storytelling and the theoretical framework of the environmental humanities in Higher Education for Sustainable Development. The highlighted course serves as a case study for the implications of the environmental humanities and storytelling within the broad field of Curriculum Studies.