Från klimatkris till utbildningskris? : En posthumanistisk ekokritik av svenska religionsvetenskapliga kurser på grundnivå inom högre utbildning

As embodied, relational and knowing subjects, humans have always been embedded in the more-than-human community within the bioecological world. This planet has been the one and only stage upon which history has unfolded, but more so, it has also had an important role in shaping the very customs, belief systems and values that give our lives meaning. Winds and tides have set the rhythms of rituals and bioregional diversity has been the bedrock of cultural diversity, which in return has also shaped the land. That is, the ontology of being is an entangled enactment of reciprocal relationships that unfolds in an oscillatory co-creation. Within this dramaturgy higher education and the study of religion are both implicated as recipients, bearers of, and creators of narratives. The stories we tell ourselves are the lifeworlds we inhabit, and they can either be cause for destruction or for thrivability – or be plotted on a continuum therein between. From a critical posthumanities point of view, this thesis aims at exploring the different ways that Swedish bachelor courses in religious studies touch upon the subject of ecology, if at all. Herein, I discuss what possible narrative outcomes can result from including, contra, excluding ecological perspectives within the context of anthropogenically caused climate destabilization and briefly contend over the responsibilities that follow.