Eco-lit: Eco-critical literacy in music- and literature-related practices of arts education

The interdisciplinary research and development project Eco-lit (Eco-critical Literacy in music- and literature-related practices of arts education) explores the potential of arts education for a critical engagement with the ecological crises of the present. 

A starting point for the project is the assumption that socio-ecological transformation requires cultural, and not only technological and economic, change. Because the communication of mere facts is insufficient, creativity, imagination, anddealing with complexity and emotion areneeded. Accordingly, the arts are becoming increasingly important in disciplines such as environmental education and climate change communication.  

This is the point of departure of Eco-lit: It develops an empirically grounded theoretical model of eco-critical literacy, based on specifically aesthetic-artistic approaches to understanding ecological relations and their normative dimensions. 

Research is conducted in two sub-studies: An ethnographic sub-study maps music- and literature-related practices of dealing with ecological crises at the intersection of art and activism. In addition, a design-based sub-study focuses on the development and research of non-formal arts education projects for the promotion of eco-critical literacy. Based on the assumption that aesthetic literacy formation processes in the context of ecological crises take place in both informal and non-formal contexts, both sub-studies work closely together. The research design is based on grounded theory methodology and draws on participant observation, qualitative interviews and cyberethnographic methods, amongst others. 

Participating research institutions are the Institute for European Ethnomusicology, the Department of English II, and the research hub for Multidisciplinary Environmental Studies in the Humanities (MESH) at the University of Cologne. The project considers itself a component of the UoC’s Sustainability Strategy and collaborator with the research initiative Sharing a Planet in Peril.