Building Eco-Narrative Communities in School: A Qualitative Research Starting from a Place-Based Writing Practice

This paper explores the construct of eco-narrative community starting from an action-research that investigated place-based writing, in the context of secondary school. Against the background of different approaches that invest in the classroom as a learning community, the construct of narrative community (Jedlowskj, 2009, 2022) is discussed with respect to its pedagogical potential, together with that of ecological community, as a horizon within which to understand outdoor education. Processes and themes that emerged from the experiences of students are explored from a phenomenological perspective, starting from the analysis of focus groups, semi-structured interviews and poetic-narrative texts composed outdoors. The analysis emphasizes the generative dimensions of solitude, mutual listening supported by curiosity, describing an embodied educational experience. The emerging relational dynamics are related to the affective dimensions and mutual recognition. However, the educational declination of the concept of eco-narrative community is only initial and the need for further research and practices is emphasized.