From the "Greta Thunberg Effect" to Green Conversion of Universities: The Reconstructive Praxis of Discursive Mobilizations

Autor/in	Feldman, Jonathan Michael
Titel	From the "Greta Thunberg Effect" to Green Conversion of Universities: The Reconstructive Praxis of Discursive Mobilizations
Quelle	In: Discourse and Communication for Sustainable Education, 12 (2021) 1, S.121-139 (19 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	2255-7547
DOI	10.2478/dcse-2021-0009
Schlagwörter	Universities; Conservation (Environment); Political Influences; Activism; Climate; Change Agents; Organizational Change; Social Theories; History; College Students; International Cooperation; Higher Education; Educational Change; Energy Conservation; Wastes; Water; Food; Transportation; Foreign Countries; Sustainability + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? University; Universität; Conservation; Environment; Konservierung; Bewahung; Umwelt; Political influence; Politischer Einfluss; Aktivismus; Politischer Protest; Klima; Organisationswandel; Gesellschaftstheorie; Geschichte; Geschichtsdarstellung; Collegestudent; Internationale Kooperation; Internationale Zusammenarbeit; Hochschulbildung; Hochschulsystem; Hochschulwesen; Bildungsreform; Energieerhaltung; Energiespeicherung; Gargabe; Abfall; Wasser; Lebensmittel; Verkehrswesen; Ausland; Nachhaltigkeit
Abstract	This paper investigates how one could envision a discursive mobilization process to transform protest movements into agents that help reconstruct the universities as agents supporting material mobilizations leading to ecological reconstruction. After reviewing universities' ecological footprints, the author shows how theories of mobilization and conjunctures could contribute to understanding how this transformation could occur. "Discursive mobilizations" advance values or ideas but stop short of innovation and production system changes. "Material mobilizations" affect deployment of human, technological, industrial and financial resources. "Conjunctures" involve linkages of political activity to spaces implicated in both kinds of mobilizations in a given historical time frame. The study shows many nations having both extensive climate activism and concentrations of university students creating a possibility for greening education centers based on various models for doing so. Yet, two key problems emerge. First, some nations lag in climate activism. Second, interest in a Green Deal or Green New Deal does not always match the level of attention to leading activist Greta Thunberg. The paper illustrates how such problems can be addressed by university-based campaigns linking activist cohorts, mobilization supporting green conversion of higher education and solidaristic, mutual aid exchanges among regions. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01