de Carvalho, T.;
(2025)
Beyond theory: arts-based practices and cultural ethos for transformative eco-social learning.
International Journal of Social Pedagogy
, 14
(1)
, Article 7. 10.14324/111.444.ijsp.2025.v14.x.007.
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Abstract
Although the need to solve the global ecological crisis is acknowledged, practical solutions remain challenging. Environmental degradation and climate change are not just scientific or economic problems; they are also global issues deeply rooted in cultural and social systems that shape behaviour and ways to exist. Transformative solutions beyond cognitive learning are needed, but applications often remain disconnected from people’s lived realities, hindering change. By engaging individuals on emotional, aesthetic and embodied levels, the arts offer a unique path to transformation. Furthermore, understanding these transformation processes requires examining the underlying individual and societal narratives, values and visions that shape learning and socialisation. This article aims to explore and theorise how the arts – within the framework of expressive arts therapy – can facilitate transformative eco-social learning towards planetary citizenship and be scaled up beyond therapy to broader contexts, such as education and communities. It addresses the question: how can arts-based practices and the cultivation of a cultural ethos foster transformative eco-social learning in the global ecological crisis? Drawing on interdisciplinary literature and expressive arts therapy, this article argues that harnessing the arts’ transformative potential requires a specific ethos, including a phenomenological view, recognition of interconnectedness and enabling conditions, with the arts playing a pivotal role in fostering transformation. This article contributes to social pedagogy and transformative learning by integrating the concept of the arts with insights from expressive arts therapy. Further research is needed to explore how changes in cultural ethos influence individuals, and how the arts may shape this ethos.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Beyond theory: arts-based practices and cultural ethos for transformative eco-social learning |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.14324/111.444.ijsp.2025.v14.x.007 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.14324/111.444.ijsp.2025.v14.x.0... |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2025, Taina de Carvalho. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence (CC BY) 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
| Keywords: | arts, cultural ethos, eco-social learning, expressive arts therapy, planetary citizenship, transformative learning |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10214178 |
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