Indigenizing Environmental Justice Through Community Engaged Learning: A Case Study of a Collaborative Project Carried Out by an Undergraduate Class, the Ramapough, and Public School Teachers

This paper is a case study in community engaged learning in a course on religion and environmental justice taught by the author. It presents and critically analyzes a project carried out in collaboration with multiple stakeholders, including an Indigenous group, the university’s community engagement office, public school teachers, and an interdisciplinary environmental institute. Aiming to begin to fill a gap identified by the Ramapough Lunaape in New Jersey in conversation with the author, the class partnered with the Ramapough to produce curricular materials for New Jersey public school teachers on Native Americans, spirituality, relationship to sacred sites, and environmental justice. This case study describes and analyzes the project and derives several conclusions aimed at informing community engaged coursework in religion and the environment.