Canadian Forest Imaginaries: The Roots of Poetism

Abstract This inquiry explores how eco-phenomenology reveals our relational engagement with forests inspiring a philosophy of education nurturing an ethos of mystery useful to teacher education, and the unsettling and decolonising of Western settler views of a Canadian forest. Through eco-phenomenological descriptions and interpretations, immediate lived experiences in a forest reveal three concepts: the sylvan fringe , the clearing and the care structure . Respectively, the ontological, epistemological and axiological domains of poetism, as a philosophy of education consist of physis (presencing-absencing), poetic knowledge (known-unknown) and dwelling (care structure). The relationship between Critical Forest Studies (CFS) and teacher environmental education is furthered by considering currents in environmental education and programming. CFS and poetism each resonate with the holistic current of environmental education and are well suited to the systematic programming of environmental education in teacher education.