Educational Exploration
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in Literary Education: The Impact on Identity, Cultural Dynamics, and Research Interpretation View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Deatra L Neal
Dominant cultural narratives help shape literature and literary education, often muting diverse voices and perspectives. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies in higher education seek to transform curricula, expand representation, and reshape how identity is constructed and interpreted in literature. This study explores the impact of DEI policies on identity formation, cultural representation, and interpretative shifts in literary education. By analyzing university syllabi and survey responses from students and scholars, this research investigates whether DEI initiatives diversify literary traditions or introduce ideological constraints to literary analysis. This research anchors three themes: (1) the expansion of cultural identity in literature through the inclusion of historically excluded voices, (2) the consequences of removing DEI policies and practices, including the potential erasure of marginalized perspectives, and (3) shifts in literary interpretation. DEI policy changes spurred ongoing debates around book bans, curriculum changes, and institutional resistance to literature. This study contributes to discussions on the role of literary education in fostering inclusive, equitable, and diverse learning environments. The research involves cultural studies, literary studies, and education policy intersecting critical race theory, postcolonial literature, and curriculum development utilizing a mixed-method approach using content analysis of university syllabi, qualitative survey analysis, and scholarly discourse via interviews with students and scholars. This study will assess how DEI policies influence identity, representation, and cultural narratives in literature. The results provide insights for educators, scholars, and legislatures addressing literary traditions, identity complexities in the modern academic landscape, and representation.
Immersive Encounters - Rethinking Environmental Education for a New Humanity: Exploring the Role of Embodied Experience in Fostering Ecological Awareness
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Pia Wimmer
The ongoing ecological crisis makes it evident that the question of how a sustainable way of being human within planetary boundaries can be shaped remains unresolved. While scientific knowledge about environmental change is increasingly precise, the challenge persists of embedding sustainable thinking and action deeply into both societal structures and individual lives. One aspect requiring further inquiry is how humans perceive themselves as part of a more-than-human world: To what extent is ecological awareness not only conveyed cognitively but also experienced sensorially and emotionally? What kinds of learning and experiential spaces might deepen this understanding and foster reflective connectedness with the environment? As an illustrative example, the practice of freediving is introduced. Reports and research from this field suggest that full immersion in the underwater world can generate a heightened sense of embeddedness: the water surrounds the body, alters perception and movement, and renders one’s environmental dependency physically tangible. Drawing on reports and studies of professional freediving, as well as insights from environmental philosophy, this paper explores the potential of bodily-mental experiences for environmental and sustainability education. Based on ten interviews with beginner freedivers, it examines how such experiences might be integrated into educational contexts to foster awareness of planetary boundaries on both cognitive and sensory levels, supporting the development of ethical competencies for future planetary stewardship. Contributing to an Education for a New Humanity, the paper considers how immersivity as pedagogical concept might help bridge the gap between abstract sustainability discourses and a lived ecological ethics.
Culture-based Education and Its Effects on Student Ministry Outcomes: Evaluation of a Faith-based, Culture-based Program in Higher Education
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Brennan Takayama
After working on the "Hawaiian Cultural Influences in Education" (HCIE) project in the Research & Evaluation division at Kamehameha Schools, the author transitioned to work in a faith-based non-profit in higher education. HCIE found that higher uses of culture-based education were connected to positive outcomes for K-12 students in self-concept, achievement, school engagement, and more. Through applying principles of culture-based education to a faith-based spring break program for college students, the researcher found similar positive outcomes through examining change through empirical data in pre- and post-surveys.
