Page 7 - IJPS-10-2

International Journal of

Population Studies

RESEARCH ARTICLE
Lifelong learning, well-being, and climate justice

activism: Exploring social movement learning
among Australia’s Knitting Nannas

Larraine J. Larri*

The Cairns Institute, James Cook University, Cairns, Queensland, Australia
(This article belongs to Special Issue: Active Ageing and Educational Gerontology)

Abstract
The participation of older people in social movement learning presents a unique
perspective on lifelong learning opportunities and well-aging in later life. Australia’s
Knitting Nannas Against Gas and Greed exemplifies how older women have
challenged the “double jeopardy of old age” embodied in ageist sexism and become
well-regarded anti-coal seam gas environmental activists. This article explores
how engagement in environmental activism has fostered a learning ecology,
which promotes transformative and emancipatory learning dispositions that
benefit well-aging. A significant gap exists in transformative environmental adult
educational research in relation to the motivation for and engagement of older
women in environmentalism. Drawing on my Ph.D. research, I identify how women
acquire environmental and ecological literacy, develop activist skills, and cultivate
emancipatory learning dispositions. They benefit from being part of a supportive
*Corresponding author:
Larraine J. Larri community of older women, enhancing their quality of life. This phenomenon is
(larraine.larri@my.jcu.edu.au) referred to as “Nannagogy.”
Citation: Larri, L.J. (2024).
Lifelong learning, well-being, and
climate justice activism: Exploring Keywords: Ageist sexism; Critical feminist geragogy; Older learners; Social movement
social movement learning among learning; Nannagogy
Australia’s Knitting Nannas.
International Journal of Population
Studies, 10(2):1-17.
https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.381 1. Introduction
Received: September 30, 2022
The participation of older people in social movement learning (SML) represents a unique
Accepted: December 15, 2023
perspective on lifelong learning opportunities and well-aging in later life. Knowledge of
Published Online: March 15, 2024 older women’s environmental activist learning is a lacuna in environmental education,
Copyright: © 2024 Author(s). adult learning, and SML. In environmental education, feminists refer to the exclusion
This is an Open-Access article of female experience as gender-blind. They argue that gender inclusivity is integral to
distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution recognizing the complexity of human and more-than-human relationships, multiple
License, permitting distribution, subjectivities, knowledge, and interactions (Gough, 2013; Gough & Whitehouse, 2020).
and reproduction in any medium, Gender-blindness has contributed to a knowledge gap in older women’s SML (Larri,
provided the original work is
properly cited. 2021). In addition, Formosa (2021, p. 179) identified a “lack of feminist debate on later-
life learning and older women learning,” which results in adult educators and educational
Publisher’s Note: AccScience
Publishing remains neutral with gerontologists using outdated or “malestream” approaches.
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional This article fills this gap by presenting a case study of Australia’s Knitting Nannas
affiliations. Against Gas and Greed (aka KNAG or the Nannas) as a community of practice (CoP).

Volume 10 Issue 2 (2024) 1 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.381