Rhizomatic Languages: The Importance of Nature and Arts and Crafts in Children’s Education

Abstract

The two strands of nature-, and arts- and crafts- education are traditionally considered distinct. Recently, the intersection of these two strands has been attracting attention, one objective being the creation of lasting connections between children and nature. However, most of this education is based on the spoken and written word, which can create barriers to connection. These barriers are a consequence of the Western mindset, covertly conveyed in our words and metaphors. Three such barriers consist of the organisation of our world in binaries, their hierarchical features, and our dominating, extractive relationship to our planet. Together mind-based, subject-object, and extractive relations with nature pose obstacles to connection inadvertently perpetuated in our spoken and written words. Our culture, however, has the languages of arts and crafts to hand, which give us the tools to express our sensory experiences and connections to nature, as well as to create our own individual knowledge. This knowledge can be characterised as rhizomatic, as it is experiential, individual, and yet connected. The languages of the arts and crafts – also known as the 100 languages – match rhizomatic knowledge in that they have the same characteristics of individuality and connection. To foster connections with nature, educators must, on the one hand, bring children to nature and, on the other, engage them profoundly in art and crafts. In this way, we allow them to escape the binaries, hierarchies and domination of our spoken and written languages. We also give them the potential to reshape our relationship to our planet.