Close
The pedagogy of chocolate
01 March 2022, 12:30 pm–1:30 pm
In this webinar, Bob Manteaw will explore the use of chocolate as a teaching and learning resource in global learning and sustainability education.
This event is free.
Event Information
Open to
- All
Availability
- Yes
Cost
- Free
Organiser
-
Kester Muller
Bob will explain how, as an African from Ghana, he has employed chocolate as a teaching and learning resource in his global learning and sustainability education efforts in higher education in Canada and the United States of America.
While sharing his cultural experiences from the perspective of his ‘otherness’ in predominantly white communities, the presentation will also foreground the philosophical and pedagogical imperatives of what it means to use cocoa and chocolate to educate for sustainability and global awareness in culturally diverse settings.
In doing so, Dr Manteaw will aim to demonstrate, through narrative descriptions, how he used cocoa production in Ghana, and chocolate consumption around the world as a pedagogical avenue to deepen understandings of larger issues around production and consumption, as well as the linkages between learning, society, and sustainability. More importantly, he will also use his experiences with chocolate in learning settings to highlight students' reactions and 'moments of learning' to critically deconstruct underestimated or taken-for-granted assumptions about production and consumption dynamics and what they mean for people behind production processes in distant places.
Unavoidably, discussions will touch on the impact of the work of the Fairtrade Foundation and similar initiatives, as well as issues of traceability, certification, sustainability and child labour as emergent critical discourses in the cocoa supply chain - and why they should matter in education and learning.
Respondent
Claire Arnott, Senior Education Campaigns Officer at Fairtrade Foundation.
Q&As
There will be time after the presentations for Q&As with participants.
This webinar is intended for all who are interested in issues of fair trade, social justice, and sustainability issues in the cocoa supply chain. In particular, students, teachers, and educators (at all levels) of global citizenship education, learning for sustainability, global learning, social justice education, fair trade and climate justice.
'Choose World you Want' festival
This seminar is being held to coincide with the Fairtrade Foundation's 'Choose the World you Want' festival, held to mark the annual Fairtrade Fortnight (21 Feb - 6 Mar) - 2 weeks of activity around social, economic and environmental justice. This connection reflects a continuing relationship between the foundation and DERC which has resulted in a report and a seminar that looked at the work of the Foundation in UK schools.
International Journal of Development Education and Global Learning
Dr Manteaw's presentation relates to his recent article in the International Journal of Development Education and Global Learning, the journal founded at Development Education Research Centre (DERC) and edited by DERC's Dr Clare Bentall. It publishes the outcomes of educational research and current debates on development education, global learning, global education, and global citizenship education.
Related links
About the Speakers
Dr Bob Manteaw
Senior Research Fellow at Center for Climate Change and Sustainability Studies, University of Ghana
Bob is originally from Ghana but has lived and worked in England, the USA, and Canada, where he holds citizenship. Prior to moving back to Ghana in the last few years, Bob worked as an adjunct Assistant Professor at the Kings University in Edmonton, Canada, while he led the Province of Alberta’s Climate Adaptation Strategy processes within the Government of Alberta. He also previously worked as an Assistant Professor at the Eastern Washington University in Cheney, U.S.A. where his research interests in the social dimensions of global environmental change deepened his subsequent roles and in climate change adaptation.
Back in Ghana now, he works mainly with graduate students with both his teaching and research focusing on diverse, but interrelated themes around sustainable development, climate adaptation, social innovation, socio-ecological resilience, water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) and many others. Dr Manteaw is particularly interested in the roles of education and learning in the global quest for climate and sustainability transitions.
Claire Arnott
Senior Education Campaigns Officer at Fairtrade Foundation, UK
Claire produces education resources for schools on the topics of climate justice, globalisation, trade, ethical consumption and sustainability. She has a Masters in Education and International Development from IOE. Claire was previously a Primary Teacher in Aberdeen (Scotland) and has also taught in Romania, Italy, Finland and Uganda. She joined the Fairtrade Foundation in August 2019 to champion global learning for a more just, sustainable and compassionate world.