Critical Discourse Analyses of Early Education-Land Assemblages within Settler-Colonial British Columbia, Canada
Abstract
‘Outdoor’ education receives ample attention in early education, as land and dominant developmental discourses fuel promissory outcomes for children as future market driven citizens. What has not received sufficient attention are critical examinations of ‘outdoor education’ that account for persistent colonial-capitalist-neoliberal logics, especially in British Columbia, Canada where ‘outdoor’ education abounds. This thesis explores how early education perpetuates the ongoing creation of colonial pedagogies through a historical analysis of ‘outdoor’ education, and a Discourse-Historical analysis of the 2019 British Columbia Early Learning Framework (BCELF). Addressing three main discourses (quality, citizenship, and well-being and belonging), I underscore the need for anti-colonial efforts to seriously refuse enduring colonial-capitalist-neoliberal ‘outdoor’ program rhetoric and instead nourish just and equitable relations in land-based education.