Sarah Squire

Sarah R. Squire 

 

Supervisors 

Ullrich Kockel, Professor of Creative Ethnology, and Mairéad Nic Craith, Professor of Public Folklore 

 

Research title 

(Re)Generative relationships: A case study of collaborative land work, culture making, and education for sustainable communities in Scotland 

 

Abstract 

This study, partially funded by a UHI studentship, inquires about how collaborative land work, culture making, and education can support (ecologically/economically/culturally) sustainable communities in the Highlands, through a creative ethnological case study of a network of individuals and local organisations. How can peer-to-peer collaborations support inclusive, creative solutions, and how are such networks fostered? What action do ecological/spiritual concepts such as reciprocity, kinship, or dùthchas have in this work? What is the role of intangible cultural heritage (oral traditions, traditional ecological knowledge, traditional skills) in collaboratively (re)building and sustaining rural communities?  

The work will be grounded in a participatory onto-epistemology influenced by Indigenous scholarship and new materialisms, with attention to how these are iterated in Scottish contexts. In exploring land-based, non-dualistic ways of thinking, living, and enacting research, the study develops emergent conversations on relational paradigms (Lange, 2023) and ‘ecologizing education’ (Affifi, 2023) in both the process and the content of the project. It theorises that human communities, like all ecologies, can only persist in a healthy way (ie. be sustainable) as long as they are in a state of becoming. There must be a flow of energy, give and take, shift and balance, and this creative process links the past to the future.   

With that in mind, a key question for the study will concern how the dynamic ‘rhizome’ of interactions can be both situated in its specific landscape and cultural, historical context, and also inclusive and future-looking for sustainable life in the 21st century and beyond. Questions around the dynamics of Indigenous and no-longer-indigenous identities, rich heritage and inclusive futures, and education and practice are inspired by the work of Lewis Williams, and particularly in the Scottish context by Mairi McFadyen, Raghnaid Sandilands and others in the May 2021 issue of Scottish Affairs exploring ‘Scotland's Gàidhealtachd Futures.’ In practice, building on place-based research methodology (Tuck and Mckenzie, 2015), the study will be conceptualized and iterated with, in, and for participants and their communities.  

    

Biography

Before coming to UHI, Sarah completed a MSc in Outdoor Environmental and Sustainability Education, with merit, at The University of Edinburgh, supervised by David A. G. Clarke. Her research interests include intersectional sustainability, philosophy of education, land- and place-based education, relational paradigms, and human and more-than-human communities.  

Sarah is a learner of British Sign Language and of Scottish Gaelic, having completed Sabhal Mòr Ostaig’s An Cùrsa Inntrigidh online during the pandemic. She has earned a certificate in herbology through the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, and is working towards qualification as a forest school assistant leader. Previously, Sarah worked as a qualified teacher of visual art and English in California, as well as in an art gallery and as a freelance writer.  

 

Publications 

Squire, S., & Joshua Western, S. (2024, April 2). Building and belonging: Student parents’ community at Blacket Avenue. Teaching Matters, University of Edinburgh. https://www.teaching-matters-blog.ed.ac.uk/building-and-belonging-student-parents-community-at-blacket-avenue/  

Squire, S. (2024, April 22). Rooted in relationships: Becoming 'placed' in social and ecological communities. Outdoor Environmental Education Research Blog, University of Edinburgh. https://blogs.ed.ac.uk/oeer/rooted-in-relationships/ 

Squire, S. (2023). Wall-pigeon-pictograph-massacre-map: Living into experiential education with new materialism. Pathways: The Ontario Journal of Outdoor Education, 36(1), 15-18. 

 

Contact email address  20017044@uhi.ac.uk