Sharing Student Projects

This dissertation investigates the lived experiences, aspirations, and environmental knowledge of smallholder coffee farmers in Nan Province, Northern Thailand, using participatory visual and dialogic methods. Grounded in sustainability education and informed by frameworks of agroecology and environmental citizenship, the study employs Photovoice, semi-structured interviews, and a focus group to foreground farmers’ perspectives on sustainable farming. It examines how farmers practise, adapt, and sometimes resist dominant narratives of agricultural development, conservation, and state-led sustainability agendas. Drawing on both visual and verbal data, the findings reveal that motivations for sustainability extend beyond economic and environmental considerations to include cultural values, emotional connections to land, and the transmission of intergenerational knowledge. By centring farmers’ own images and narratives, this research contributes to discussions on epistemic justice and demonstrates how place-based, participatory approaches can surface diverse knowledges, challenging top-down models of sustainability. The study offers important insights for policy, education, and community-led sustainability initiatives. The significance of this research lies in its participatory and pluralistic orientation. By employing Photovoice, semi-structured interviews, and a focus group, the study invites farmers to become co-researchers by capturing photographs, telling stories, and engaging in collective reflection. In doing so, the research contributes to current debates on agroecology, sustainability education, and environmental citizenship by foregrounding local knowledge systems, situated practices, and the often-overlooked affective and political dimensions of sustainability. This approach is particularly important in Thailand, where rural farmers face political, economic, and cultural marginalisation despite their vital role in landscape conservation and sustainable agriculture. Moreover, this study speaks to broader questions about the nature of knowledge production in sustainability research. Who defines what counts as sustainable? Whose voices shape policies and educational narratives? By foregrounding farmer-led perspectives, this dissertation aligns with decolonial approaches that seek to democratise knowledge and challenge epistemic hierarchies. It underscores the importance of context-sensitive approaches in both research and practice, recognising that sustainability solutions must be rooted in local realities rather than imported models. The relevance of this work extends beyond academia. As climate change, deforestation, and rural inequality intensify, understanding and supporting farmer-led sustainability initiatives is essential for environmental and social justice. By focusing on farmers' everyday practices and aspirations, this study aligns with calls for more inclusive and culturally grounded sustainability research. This research also contributes to ongoing discussions within EfS, particularly regarding the role of informal and community-based learning. It challenges the dominant association of sustainability education with formal institutions, advocating instead for recognition of everyday acts of teaching, learning, and sharing that occur outside the classroom. Farmers, as this study shows, are not only food producers but also educators, mentors,

This research contributes to a growing body of work that reimagines sustainability and sustainability education from below. It challenges dominant discourses that frame farmers as passive recipients of technical knowledge, offering instead a relational, pluralistic, and community-centred account of sustainability. By centring farmers’ voices and visual narratives, the study enriches understandings of how sustainability is lived, negotiated, and passed on. The integration of Photovoice alongside interviews not only enabled the generation of rich, contextual data but also served as a reflective and empowering process for participants. It demonstrates the value of visual and participatory methods in both research and education, responding to calls for more inclusive and dialogical approaches to sustainability learning (Nolet, 2015). In practical terms, the study offers insights for policymakers, educators, and civil society organisations. Effective support for sustainable coffee farming must go beyond technical training or financial incentives; it must recognise and build upon farmers’ existing knowledge systems, informal pedagogies, and community-based networks. Education policy should better reflect the reality that sustainability learning often takes place outside formal institutions, and in rural spaces shaped by history, labour, and care. This study also highlights the importance of recognising farmers as informal educators and custodians of place-based knowledge. Their educational practices are deeply embedded in everyday farming activities and community life, challenging conventional notions of education as solely classroom-based or institution-led. For education policy and practice, this implies a need to broaden the scope of sustainability education to include experiential, place-rooted, and intergenerational learning. Schools and educational programmes should seek partnerships with farming communities, incorporating practical farming experiences into curricula that foster ecological literacy, environmental citizenship, and entrepreneurial skills. Farmers’ mentoring and knowledge-sharing activities demonstrate how informal learning spaces can nurture a sense of responsibility and care for the environment. Education initiatives should therefore support and amplify these community-led efforts, recognising the value of farmer-to-farmer knowledge exchange and local cultural practices. Furthermore, integrating sustainability education with local economic and social realities — such as market challenges and youth aspirations — can better prepare young people to innovate within their communities. Curricula that blend ecological understanding with skills in marketing, product development, and business could address concerns about sustaining agricultural livelihoods alongside broader personal development.