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Christine Marie Widrig Ed.D., is a 2025 graduate of the Ed.D. program in Educational and Professional Practice at Antioch University.

Dissertation Committee:

Ashley Nielson, Ph.D., Committee Chair

Dawn Murray, Ph.D., Committee Member

Wendy Peters, Ph.D. Committee Member

Keywords

biodiversity, climate consciousness, environmental education, heuristics (human, more-than-human), Indigenous knowledge, kin(ki) kinship, place-based, sacred ecology

Document Type

Dissertation

Publication Date

2025

Abstract

This is a crucial time for a call to an awakened consciousness toward respectable, equitable, and expansive relationships and agency with the natural world. Indigenous philosophy and practices offer alternative visions for cultivating representations of language, narrative, and tradition that expand boundaries of modern Western thought and discourse. Key to many Indigenous traditions is fostering relationships of kin(ki), meaning kinship, within diverse ecological landscapes and place, while engaging respectfully with the non-human world. These alternative ways of consciousness and agency can be vital means of supporting healthy biodiversity and conservation, amid spiritual practices. In this dissertation, I propose and outline elements, or principles, rooted in Indigenous and ancient wisdom traditions that can help give shape, context, and praxis within the modern landscape of environmental education. I describe how current dualistic binaries and discourse can limit human awareness or participation within such alternative forms of kin(ki) kinship, relationality, and agency with the non-human world. Further, I explore alternative forms of narrative, teaching, and praxis around kin(ki) kinship, the non-human world, and land relationality that are specifically passed down to younger generations and the manner in which this may be done. In conclusion, I present a focal point of reflective observations from informal, immersive experiences integrating place-specific cultural-sacred practices of land and place, biodiversity, and conservation (the Monpa People, Bhutan). I demonstrate how these practices are passed down to future generations. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA (https://aura.antioch.edu) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu).

Comments

ORCID No. 0000-0003-4614-7764

Bio: Christine Marie Widrig has spent her professional career engaged in discovering intersections within realms of education, the environment, and spirituality. She holds a B.S. in Education, (University of Rio Grande); M.Div. in Theological studies, (Trinity Seminary); M.Ed. in Early Childhood Education, (Kent State University); and Ed.D. Environmental and Sustainability studies, (Antioch University). A previous publication, Kroeger, J., & Widrig, C. (2023). Not as strange as dying: Reimagining U.S. social studies as place-based and decolonialized. In B. A. Varga, T. Monreal, & R. C. Christ (Eds.), Towards a stranger and more posthuman social studies (pp. 121–132). Teachers College Press, served as a foundation for this thesis/dissertation.

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