The proposed conference presentation reflects “on co-creation processes and power asymmetries

within the research process” (quote from the abstract call) in relationships between young, pre-school and their teachers, as well as among more-than-humans. A project was conducted with early childhood teacher students in visual arts where they creatively explored alpaca fiber, and at the end were surprised by four alpacas that produced the fiber. The research question for the presentation will be: “Which kinds of ecological awareness can be facilitated for teacher students through slow/prolonged art-based activities with natural fibers?”     

The project “Spinning- with alpacas” builds on and are related to my two other research projects. Both of the background projects seek toward reduction of power asymmetries between co-researchers, thus since the project are influenced by posthuman onto-epistemology and ecologically holistic worldviews and inspired by indigenous cultures and eco-philosophy by Norwegian philosopher Arne Næss (Haukeland & Næss, 2008), co-researchers involved in these studies are quite diverse, such as trees, horses, clay and alpacas.  I position myself in a role of an a/r/t-ographer: textile designer, ABER-researcher and university professor teaching visual art at early childhood teacher education.

The first background project was conducted with three groups of early childhood education students over three years (Springs 209, 2020 and 2021) together with a drama teacher, and has resulted in the following article “Reducing inequalities among species through an arts-based inquiry in early childhood teacher education” (Nordbø & Fredriksen, 2023). This study was based on the students’ individual “prolonged engagements” (Bresler, 2006) through which they established close relationships with more-than-humans found on a specific outdoor space of their choice. The article presents a selection of student cases with intention to make visible their growing ecological awareness (Morton, 2010) and how this motivated their “response-ability” (Haraway, 2016) for more-than-humans the natural environments.

The second background project is called “Learning with the Land” and is a part of a larger international research collaboration, led by Professor Rita Irwin and her associates, and funded by “Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada”. The project has participants from universities in Canada, the USA, Australia and Norway and has lasted for three last years (2022-2025). Here the concept “Land” is borrowed by indigenous people’s ways to address a specific place with all its inhabitants, landscapes, materials and elements. The project Learning with the Land, according to the application delivered to the Research Council, seeks toward combining a/r/tography with Indigenous methodologies and exploring how this approach can contribute to contemporary sustainability-oriented debates about human-land relations. My own engagement in the project examines the process of development of my own human-land relationship – my process of becoming an ecologically “response-able” farmer – Becoming a peasant (Fredriksen & Eriksen, in review).

One of the dimensions of my engagement in “Larning with the  Land” is alpaca farming which facilitates manifolded connections with the Land (through grass production, weather conditions, animal care, intersubjective encounters etc.) as well as through hand processing of alpaca fiber as a slow, embodied practice of connection (Miller & Fredriksen, 2022) and enhanced ecological awareness (Fredriksen & Scarborough, 2024).

All of the three projects are acts of decolonizing embodied knowledge (hand crafting) and non-human forms og knowledge. The efforts to minimize human impact on the environment is a form of rebellion against efficiency and productivity, and an act of “planetary care” (Stake & Visse, 2021).

The projects “Spinning-with alpacas”, as well as the two background projects applied different forms of Arts-based research. “Spinning-with alpacas” is conducted through art education with 25 early childhood teachers students (documented with photos and videos). The students were interviewed a year later, in order to collect their most memorable experiences that might have influenced them personally. Narrative analysis was applied to represent the students’ (a selection of 5 students) personal journeys; The project “Reducing inequalities among species” was a multiple case study conducted in arts (visual art and drama) education, and focused on the students’ holistic, embodied, emotional and experiential engagements that led to their personal transformation; The researchers (Nordbø and me) were a/r/tographers, with special emphasis on our teaching practice. Data was collected from 60 students over three years in forms of students’ images, notes, videos, as well as written project rapports. The most relevant cases where analyzed in depth through narrative inquiry and presented through thick descriptions. The second background project “Becoming a peasant” was conducted as a/r/tographic living inquiry where large amount of multimodal data (images, videos, notes and narratives) was collected by myself, and together with an artist Helen Eriksen organized thematically, “compressed” and transformed into poems and drawings. With indigenous storytelling (Archibald, 2008) as a narrative model, the poetic approach is a creative effort to engage readers emotionally and challenge their present ecological awareness.

The article that addresses students’ case studies where they were asked to engage with a natural phenomenon, a place or a more-than-human presents four main findings on the question: Which qualities of arts-based learning environments can challenge students to seek toward reduction of inequalities between themselves and more-than-human others? The following four qualities of arts-based learning environments were found to contributed to challenging of the students’ anthropocentric values: “• Imagination that can allow playful, openminded action and exploring “as if”-possibilities • Personal, inner-driven, self-initiated, embodied actions –that can challenge one’s perspectives • Emphatic connections –that can lead to acknowledging other’s agency and own responsibilities in interactions with them • Time for aesthetic engagements” (Nordbø & Fredriksen, 2023) The same four points are of significant interest in the study of own prolonged, slow engagement with alpaca fiber and more-than-human co-researchers. The four points were applied in answering the question “Which kinds of ecological awareness can be facilitated for teacher students through slow/prolonged art-based activities with natural fibers?”. Types of ecological awareness identified in the study address diverse insights about their own entanglements with ecological others that surprised the students, and have influenced their further understandings and actions.

Archibald, Jo-ann (Q'um Q'um Xiiem) (2008). Indigenous storywork: educating the heart, mind, body, and spirit. UBC Press Bresler, L. (2006). Embodied narrative inquiry: A methodology of connection. Research Studies in Music Education vol. 27. (p. 21-43) Fredriksen & Eriksen (in review). Becoming a peasant: The re-wilding power of a/r/tography. International Handbook of A/r/tography Fredriksen. & Scarborough (2024). Don’t Move! Desired, Hairy and Forbidden Surface Encounters in (Motionless) Walking with Alpacas. In N. Rallis, K. Morimoto, M. Sorensen, V. Triggs and R. Irwin (Eds. Walking in Art Education - Ecopedagogical and A/r/tographical Encounters. Intellect books Haukeland, P. I. with Næss, A. (2008). Dyp Glede: Inn I dypøkologien. Flux forlag. Haraway, D.J. (2016). Staying with the trouble: making kin in the Chthulucene. Duke University Press 2016 Miller, L. & Fredriksen, B.C. (2022). Slow Spun: Connecting to Ancestors, Fibre-Producers, Fellow Humans and the Land Through Handcrafting of Wool and Alpaca Fibre. In Fredriksen, B.C & Groth, C. (ed.) Expanding Environmental Awareness in Education Through the Arts: Crafting-with the Environment. Springer Nature DOI: https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-4855-8_5 Morton, T. (2018). Being Ecological. Penguin Random House Nordbø, A. L., & Fredriksen, B. C. (2023). Reducing inequalities among species through an arts-based inquiry in early childhood teacher education. Nordic Journal of Art & Research, 12(2). https://doi.org/10.7577/ar.5132 Stake, R. & Visse, M. (2021). A Paradigm of Care. New York: Information Age Publishing.