Poesía, naturaleza y otredad animal: desafíos para nuevas pedagogías

Abstract

This paper presents findings from an interdisciplinary research project that combines critical perspectives from anthropology, art theory, environmental studies, and ecocriticism. The article analyzes the role of poetry in the midst of today's environmental crisis. To accomplish this, we engaged with the work of poets from Western Mexico, specifically the states of Aguascalientes, Colima, Jalisco, and Michoacan, whose poetry explores topics such as light, water, landscapes, and non-human animals. Simultaneously, we employed a dialogical hermeneutical methodology, which involved ethnographic observations from a series of encounters between the poets and environmental educators affiliated with Mexican universities. As a result of the literary analysis of approximately 3,000 poems and the series of dialogues between poets and educators, we highlight the following research findings. First, poems about non-human animals offer significant pedagogical possibilities for understanding the mounting ecological catastrophe. Second, the poems analyzed in this study approach the animal condition as a means to celebrate life, reflect on alternative ways of living, and express feelings of pain and mourning in the face of animal suffering and extinction. Third, while this paper focuses on non-human animals, we acknowledge that our discussion is intricately linked to other natural elements addressed in environmental poetry, including light, water, and wild landscapes.