Cultural ways of forming ecological identities and factors affecting their ontologies

This research explores how individual experiences in the natural world are mediated by culture to form one's ecological identity, or nature relationship, the unique relationship an individual forms with the natural world (Thomashow, 1996). Using the framework of integral ecology, I first examine how experiences in the natural world shape ecological identity, shedding light on its power to influence patterns of behavior throughout one's life. When childhood memories are recalled in vivid detail, there is the opportunity in reflection to "see oneself seeing," moving one to higher levels of conscious awareness through the insight gained. Next, I look at how one's ecological identity is mediated by the cultural milieu in which the individual is embedded. Language is investigated for its ability to be ideational, relational and constitutive, considering how it internalizes root metaphors that govern how one thinks about one's relationship to the other–than-human world. Lastly, I focus on Mi'kmaw ontology, here defined as the nature and relationship of being, to see if their cultural ways of knowing can instruct the mainstream in ways that may encourage a more biocentric worldview through a more equitable relationship with the other-than-human world, all of nature except for humans. The findings are based on an interpretive methodology utilizing interviews with seventeen participants from a range of diverse cultural backgrounds. The interviews explore important connections with the other-than-human world in participants' respective childhood milieus.