Growing up in the Anthropocene: Reconceptualising Posthuman Bildung as response-ability in, with, for, and of Nature

This chapter explores how educators might relate, conceptually and practically, to the polyphony of responses that shape school life in the Anthropocene. Drawing on posthuman perspectives grounded in an ontology of life, we reconsider what Bildung, a key concept in Northern European educational thought and practice, might mean and do within today’s context. Through this, we suggest that Bildung can serve as an invitation to cultivate response-ability in, with, for, and of nature. Further, we propose that such thinking can help educators, including ourselves, respond in life-affirming ways to Anthropocene conditions. Our argument unfolds in dialogue with examples of students’ responses and educational practices from our current Voices of Nature project. By combining conceptual creativity with experimentation, the aim is to add nuance to current debates, both in how posthuman understandings of nature and Bildung can be theorised, and in how these ideas might be enacted and troubled within the everyday realities of schooling. Based on this, the chapter seeks to outline and prompt further questions for future educational research and practice. In doing so, it presents tentative stepping stones and practical micro-methods to create an open invitation to rethink and redirect educational practices.