The Paradox of Wild Pedagogies: Loss and Hope Next to a Norwegian Glacier

Abstract

This paper, an experiment in human and more-than-human multi-vocality, derives from the contributing authors' experience of a Wild Pedagogies colloquium in Finse, Norway. Five creative responses to visiting the disappearing glacier, Midtdalsbreen, are offered. "Norway Grey" contrasts usual conceptions of drab grey with other colours that emerge from it upon closer examination. "We thought we needed" matches the imagined, wretched incompatibility of immediate human need with what a dying world can give. "Lonesome Wanderer," originally an audio file, tells the story of collegial and family glacier visits and poses questions about ethics and self-representation. In recounting an incident on the day of our visit, "Hope" explores the movement from sadness to trust within humans. "A Sense of the Sacred" weaves ecopsychology, emotion, and ancestral family together on a hike to Arne Næss's cabin. Keywords: wild pedagogies, glacier, environmental education, climate change, emotion, wild co-researcher, poetic inquiry, deep ecology