One plastic bag: interdisciplinary eco-pedagogies for a broad and balanced education

Matter matters. For Donna Haraway, in Staying with the Trouble (2016), “it matters which stories tell stories, which concepts think concepts. Mathematically, narratively and visually, it matters which figures figure figures, which systems systematise systems.” 1 Yet the existing UK education statutory system or curriculum, both for Primary schools and those training to be teachers of Primary pupils, has woefully little reference to environmental and ecological concerns, let alone guidance on how to address its burning realities for those who will suffer its consequences most acutely. On ecofeminist principles, Gaard (2009) and others have pointed out the need to acknowledge non-white ecocritical scholars, eco-activists, environmental writers and artists, including those producing works of children’s literature. This article examines one such work of children’s literature: One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of Gambia (2015), authored by Miranda Paul and illustrated by Elizabeth Zunon, as a teacher-education model of ecofeminist literature to explore a range of interdisciplinary Primary (aged four-to-ten-years) ecopedagogies.

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