School of Social and Political Science

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As last term came to a close we held a one day symposium in memory of our late colleague Rachel Howell, who died in 2022. The event was attended by friends and collaborators and was a testament to the many ways in which Rachel inspired those around her throughout her life and career. It drew together six scholars from Edinburgh and around the UK to present on a theme that was close to Howell’s practice and thinking: Transformative Pedagogies for a Sustainable Future. 

The session was opened by University of Edinburgh’s Dr Sarah Parry who organised the event, and introduced the three domains in which social science researchers might help bring about a more sustainable future for all: Teaching Sustainability at Universities, Teaching Sustainability in Communities, and Educating for Policy. Each of these, Parry pointed out, provide opportunities for a form of social science that is publicly engaged, and not confined to the academy. 

The first session, Teaching Sustainability at Universities, was chaired by Jamie Glisson, a PhD student from the department of Social Anthropology at University of Edinburgh, and a former supervisee of Howell’s. Dr Rehema White of the University of St Andrews opened the session by proposing an extension of transformative pedagogies: to drive change in the university sector and beyond, she argued, we need transgressive education. That is, education that brings about a “violation of moral or social boundaries”, for such boundaries are what drive unsustainable practices today, and the current education system is not fit for purpose. Education for sustainability needs to empower students to transgress boundaries in order to bring about change for sustainable futures.

Following this, the University of Edinburgh’s Henry Finn presented some findings from his ongoing PhD research on the experiences of sustainability educators, a project that was originally developed by Rachel Howell. In order to bring about transformation, Finn’s findings suggest that teaching for sustainability needs to “put people in the world” – to educate through encounter and experience, and that teaching needs to be responsive to the needs and priorities of individual students. Echoing Rehema White, Finn’s participants pointed out that truly transformative teaching practices do not easily fit in with the current education system. Taken together, this section highlighted the importance of our own teaching practice in breaking down barriers to a more sustainable future.

The second session was chaired by Edinburgh Sociology’s Dr Isabelle Darmon, and focused on sustainability education outside of the academy, in the community. This section was opened by Cormac Cleary, whose PhD research in Social Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh examines the tensions of communities as objects of education within community-based environmental governance structures in Scotland. This was a case study in what might be deemed “bad education” in the community, as examples from South Uist demonstrated the ways in which community consultations for sustainable development operate along oppressive pedagogical frameworks in which communities must be educated in order to provide “correct” responses.

A change of tone came from Professor Rosie Robison from Anglia Ruskin University, who offered a more personal reflection alongside insights into current predicaments of sustainability, drawing on Rachel’s work as well as Quaker philosophies. Robison noted that the need for change is a commonality, a way to connect to each other through human empathy. Thus community work may often be characterised by division and disagreement, but there are also opportunities to move beyond a need to convince the other of one’s correctness. Before a moment’s silence and a reading from a short text by Rachel, Professor Robison invited the audience to “think it possible that you may be mistaken”. 

Xin Zhang, a PhD student in Sociology at the University of Edinburgh and former student of Rachel, chaired the final session of the day, where we shifted our attention to educating for policy. Here the first of two examples of policymaker engagement was provided by Professor Mark Whitehead from the University of Aberystwyth. Alongside images of Rachel Howell, Professor Whitehead delivered a part-eulogy, part-talk about research in which Rachel was herself involved. Through mindfulness programmes with the civil service in Wales, the research team helped to instil a desire for deeper public service and a reconsideration of the meaning of “objectivity” among policymakers. 

Dr Annie Yang, University of Edinburgh, gave the final presentation of the day. Dr Yang took us through some of the foundational questions of the policy engagement sphere for social-environmental researchers: who are we actually educating, how, and why. She then provided a case study of participatory research from the South Asia Nitrogen Hub. Through engagement with a range of stakeholders, the project helped to develop a robust policy landscape for nitrogen management in Sri Lanka, using a variety of techniques including storytelling workshops which enabled policymakers to engage with the issues on an emotional level.

The day was concluded by Professor Elizabeth Bomberg of the University of Edinburgh. She reminded us of the many valuable and diverse insights from our speakers, and encouraged us to bring along a determination to do what is right, not what is comfortable, inspired by Rachel Howell’s own commitment to do the same.