The purpose of my research is to understand how a socially diverse group of spiritually-minded activist scholars integrate their spirituality into their academic activities in the Canadian university context. Circling hand-in-hand and giving weight to fellow dancers’ movements shifts individuals from being carriers of truths to being community members sharing in the collaborative process of dancing the world into existence." To accept the invitation to dance with the text is to step into the rhythmic intricacies of a collaborative process of reflexion. The struggle to resist the very privilege in which my own education practice and this research process are so deeply steeped revealed normative forces that often threaten to undermine attempts by educators and researchers to act according to critical theories and environmental justice ethics. As the author of this text, I was uncomfortable with the role of being the dominant voice, and consciously chose not to impose my interpretation on the stories shared by co-participants. Conventions embedded within research and education were disrupted throughout this reflexive process. This work offers an experience of disruption that raises questions and broadens the inclusion of people, ideas and other life into “accepted” research and pedagogical practices. Making meaning is itself an act of power and privilege, so I danced to make room for multiple understandings of these stories, of environmental education, and of research. Concepts of knowledge, power, and identity ebbed and flowed within stories drawn from the mountains of Tanzania to the hills of Colombia, and from the frozen shores of Kirkland Lake to the trout filled streams of Karman, Iran. The community dance examining privilege, identity and meaning is a study of how I may be contributing to the same oppressive situations I passionately strive to work against. This narrative describes my “dance” of meaning making. However, this quest was interrupted by a growing awareness of the interference of power dynamics between myself and the other participants, and of my own commitment to respect the stories being told. I sought consistency across the espoused ethics of co-participants, namely critical perspectives grounded in environmental justice. "By inviting educators from diverse backgrounds to participate in creative conversations I had hoped to reflect on experiences that had helped construct our theories of environmental education, and inform practice.
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