Introduction: Toward a Pedagogy of Responsibility

Chapter 1, Introduction: Toward a Pedagogy of Responsibility, provides a brief biography of Wendell Berry and introduces the influence of his work on the field of EcoJustice Education, in particular for developing a pedagogy of responsibility. I introduce in broad strokes the three primary strands—democracy, agriculture and Christianity—that have guided his commitments, and the associated principles that appear throughout his work. I outline his principles of the Great Economy, which emphasize that we are all members of a diverse living order (whether we know it or not), and as such we are responsible for ensuring that our work within it does not cause harm but rather helps it to flourish. We are small within that order and essentially ignorant in the face of its complexity; that is, we will never know or control its mysteries fully, and our illusion that we are somehow outside it has disastrous results. I argue for an understanding of education for eco-ethical becoming that is based on these principles.