ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the power of arts-based research as a voice of dissent at the core of a critical, ecoaesthetic pedagogy. Deforestation presents an ecological issue that highlights the globalization of greed and opens points of discussion for what is needed in the way of an ecoaesthetics that features critical pedagogy and arts-based research. According to Shankman's (1999) historical account, however, even more than corporate, international deforestation, the grand ecological story of Samoa is deforestation for the expansion of agriculture. As told by Shankman, the traditional Samoan belief that certain tree stands were sacred and could not be cut was successfully debunked by European missionaries who demonstrated by cutting the trees without enduring any supernatural repercussions. The curriculum does not inspire the type of social and political leadership that is needed in future generations if we are to reverse the mind-set that rewards human exploitation of all things in nature.
