Tiny Ecology Part 3 – The Grammar of Change-making

Source: Roger Jones [CC BY 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

The sound of the ravine next to me is a soothing kind of sound like that of a bathtub being filled with flowing water. While the sway of the trees that hovers above me on this cool autumn day sound like a quiet orchestra playing some soft romantic tune with a gentle harmony that fills my soul with a sense of awe and wonder. Further off in the distance, I can hear the sounds of the winter birds as a faint echo that adds a distant beat to the rhythms of the forest. Looking below and imagining the understory of the Earth, I think about what I can’t hear with my human ears such as the microbial vibrating life in the various strata layers at an unsuspecting decimal or the vast networks of trees that are gyrating sounds of their own through root movements and across time continuums I am not privy to. Yet despite all these variations in sound with life brimming around me in my sit spot of Glen Stewart Park, I somehow feel mute to this place. It is as if I am a foreigner here without even the most basic grasp of the local dialect. Despite a deep desire to connect with this place, the differences in our language seems to be the ultimate barrier.

In Speaking of Nature (2017), Robin Kimmerer highlights the power of language as an instrument for conditioning our worldview, identity and sense of being, including our wider connection to the world around us. She argues that through the very words we use in our native language, our minds become coded within the boundaries of the socio-historical meaning of these words and therefore constructing our sense of the world (Ibid.). For example the very pronouns that we use to describe nature or the more-than-human world as an ‘it’ delineates our sense of the non-human world as merely objects (Ibid.). This sentiment echoes our neoliberal and neocolonial mindset in so far as we  treat the non-human world as objects for extraction, consumption and ultimately waste by psychological distancing ourselves from an ‘it,’ in which we have no relation or responsibility to (Ibid.). In contrast, the ‘grammar of animacy,’ as the cornerstone for Kimmerer’s almost lost Indigenous language, reflects an ontology of a ‘relational turn’ between humans and the more-than-human world (Ibid.). Such as the newly formed pronouns she suggests of ki and kin, referring generally speaking to a ‘being’ or a ‘relative,’ in which the human relationship  to non-humans is fundamentally transformed from objects to subjects, and of distance to shared responsibility (Ibid.).

The goal of finding new words to speak with the world more fluently is something many others have contemplated. For some, it’s not only about evolving the English language past a colonial mindset, but it is about the precision of language in driving urgent action on issues like climate change and mobilizing one’s identity around the crisis. In the So Hot Right Now podcast series (episode 7), the hosts explore this very topic with leading British journalists, activists and storytellers (Siegle & Mustil, 2020). They argue, among several issues on this topic, that the very labels we self-identify with like ‘biologist’ or ‘journalist’ seem to set the stage for the story we are telling about our own lives and our relationship to the world (Ibid.). But as the co-host Tom Mustill  describes it, the label he previously identified with as a ‘film director’ no longer served him in light of climate change and instead he felt what best described him was a calling for ‘producing films to drive social change’ in which there are no appropriate labels for. So what does one call themselves when driving social change for the betterment of the planet and people? This is the question of the ‘grammar of change-making.’

However, like with the ‘grammar of animacy’ argued by Kimmerer (2017), this too is where the English language is limited. For we often fall back on the age-old terms of ‘activist’  or ‘advocate’ to describe this form of identity-making. But these terms are broadly defined  and are often heavily ‘loaded’ with stereotypes. For example, some argue the terms ‘activist’ and ‘advocate,’ which are often interchangeable, should have a wide-ranging definition, such as a ‘process whereby individuals or groups act to have impact on significant social change, aiming to influence power holders or institutions,’ which can include a mirage of activities such as lobbying, organizing, public education, civil dissent and more (Alliance for Justice; Ollis, 2008). However, we see particular sets of stereotyping creep into these terms when framed in relation to specific sectors of society. Such as in the academic world where these terms are often considered ‘dirty words’ for scientists and scholars who believe they “should remain in the ivory tower” by ensuring  their research remains ‘pure’ with empirical evidence avoiding personal bias or political agenda  (Rose & Parsons, 2015, as referenced in Parsons, 2016, p.1). Yet many other scholars challenge this traditional notion, both in identifying as ‘activist scholars’ themselves and in practicing an ‘activist’ agenda as the ethical grounding for their research. For activist scholars often believe it is their fundamental responsibility to support an agenda of collective liberation and justice through research that is with, by and for social movements or marginalized communities (Iseke, 2013; Juris & Khasnabish, 2015; Maiter, 2008; Nagar, 2014: Ollis, 2008; Tilleczek & Campbell, 2019; Tuck, 2009). Regardless of this, there are people across sectors who still hold beliefs that the terms ‘activist and ‘advocate’ are ‘dirty’ words in  varying professional and personal contexts, including the media.

As a media activist and storyteller myself, this was the focus of my work ten years ago when I wrote my first book titled The Next Eco-Warriors (2011), as an anthology collection of short stories by young environmental activists around the world. The collection of stories was trying to communicate a bigger idea than the individual stories themselves, that of the plurality of activism. In reflecting a diversity of change-making, my goal was to use the immersive ability of narrative to transport the reader into the ‘activist world’ where they could potentially envision themselves as one of the many faces of activists, which follows a similar premise in the emerging research found in fictional narrative (Dill-Shackleford, Vinney & Hopper-Losenicky, 2016). The book included wide-raging forms of activism, from ‘art-ivism’ that combines artistic expression like street theater with activism, or satire and mockery like the Yes Men in their prank activism seen recently at COP26, as well as the Eco-sabotage tactics of Sea Shepherd that not only uses this tactic in saving the lives of marine life but it challenges neoliberal notions of value and ownership (Hunter, 2011; Yes Men, 2021). In this way, I had hoped the book could be a starting point in redefining the loaded language of ‘activist’ and ‘advocate’ – from the traditional and more sinister view of rioting protesters – to something broader, diverse and even transformative that all people could see themselves a part of. 

But I cannot say that my one book was successful in redefining the language of change-making in the way I intended. Historically it has never been one act or one person that  drives cultural or systemic change anyhow. Instead, it will take many more to evolve the language in the way I am proposing. For example,  Phillip Maidwald of the organization Civic Integrity in Germany argues for the position of ‘Post-Activism,’ which can be defined in its most simplest terms a form of transcending past traditional identities, theory and practice of activism by focusing on bringing about change in our individual and collective consciousness (Maidwald, 2020). Alternatively, a report by The Smart CSOs Lab describes re-imagining activism as ‘systemic activism’’ towards a ‘Great Transition,’ such as shifting culture and narratives against infinite economic growth and towards ecological limits, or taking care of our collective commons and placing equity at the center of all of our work (Narberhaus & Sheppard,  2015). While these conversations are important in furthering the English language in the meaning of the ‘activist’ and ‘advocate’ identities, I would be remiss if I did not say that these are still niche conversations by a select few. Of course the words in the English language have expanded in recent history to include ‘change-maker’ or ‘agent of change,’ as well as ‘social innovator.’ But again, most people do not yet view themselves as having this identity and thus these words, old and new words alike, have yet to be inclusive enough beyond a select base of people in our society.

Within this context of our limited language, what is the grammar the change-making? More specifically, what alternative nouns or verbs would be inclusive enough to mobilize our identities for taking action for people and the planet? Just as Kimmerer (2017) describes the ‘grammar of animacy’ as containing the potency for shifting worldviews towards a ‘relational turn’ with the beings around us, I too argue for the potency of new words in containing an ‘identity turn’ with our sense of responsibility to the world. The new words, if inclusive enough, can help to transform our identity from a passive bystander in the neoliberal paradigm to active participants or even architects in building a new world. This is a fundamental shift in one’s sense of being, from the individual self seeking individual gain in the world, to the individual or collective identity centered around responsibility and reciprocity with the world. In this context, it is an urgently needed shift in our identity, especially with the climate crisis that calls on all of us to drive change across every facet of life. For the change will not come from the top-down powers alone, of governments and corporations as so often believed, but it will come from the billions of us enacting change in everyday life, from our work places and industries, to our communities and families. I am not speaking about individual consumer lifestyle choices here, but something much more transformative than that of using our knowledge, skills and actions for driving  climate mitigation, adaptation and resilience building across all aspects of our lives individually and collectively. But there needs to be an ‘identity turn’ for this to happen and the words we use play an important role in this.

However, I do not pretend to know the ‘grammar of change-making.’ I no longer have the arrogant pretense that I alone will form the new words to ‘activism’ and ‘advocacy that can mobilize humanity towards collective action for planetary and social justice. Instead, I know this is just one contribution as part of a wider conversation happening in the world. So as I sit here listening to the vibrant sounds of the more-than-human world around me – the ravine flowing, the tree orchestra and the birds chirping – I know that I am a foreigner in their language. Yet I also know it is just the beginning of a conversation. One that if I continue to contribute to, by being present in this space, I can immerse myself here and begin to learn the local dialect. This is just the same process for the ‘grammar of change-making,’ as it will take time for us all to immerse ourselves in a rapidly transforming world where our identities are being shifted. Only when we make time for this uncomfortable space as foreigners in a new epoch will we begin to form new words or even language that speaks to our changing identity in a changing time, in an ever uncertain world.  Till then, let the conversation continue…

References:

Alliance for Justice. What is Advocacy? Definitions and Examples. Retrieved from: https://mffh.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/AFJ_what-is-advocacy.pdf

Dill-Shackleford, K.E., Vinney, C., Hopper-Losenicky, K. (2016). Connecting the dots between fantasy and reality: The social psychology of our engagement with fictional narrative and its functional value. Social and Personality Psychology Compass 10(11), 634-646. doi: 10.1111/spc3.12274 

Hunter, E. (Ed.) (2011). The Next Eco-Warriors: 22 Young Women and Men Who Are Saving the Planet. Conari Press, Red Wheel: United States.

Iseke J. (2013). Indigenous Storytelling as Research. International Review of QualitativeResearch 6(4), pp. 559-577. doi:10.1525/irqr.2013.6.4.559

Juris, J. & Khasnabish, A. (2015). Immanent Accounts: Ethnography, Engagement, and Social Movement Practices. In The Oxford Handbook of Social Movements. Eds. Donatella Della Porta and Mario Diani.

​​Kimmerer, R. W. (2017). Speaking of Nature: Finding language that affirms our kinship with the natural world. Orion Magazine. Retrieved from:  https://orionmagazine.org/article/speaking-of-nature/

Maidwald, P. (2020). What is post-activism? (web article). Civic Integrity.  Retrieved from: https://civilintegrity.org/postactivism/

Maiter, S. (2008). Reciprocity: An ethic for community-based participatory action research. Action Research 6(3), p. 305-325. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1177/1476750307083720

 Nagar, R. (2014). Reflexivity, Positionality, and Languages of Collaboration in Feminist

 Fieldwork. In Muddying the Waters: Coauthoring Feminisms Across Scholarship and Activism, pp. 81-104. University of Illinois Press.

 Narberhaus, M. &  Sheppard, A. (2015). Reimagining Activism: A Practical Guide for the Great Transition. The Smart CSOs Lab. Retrieved from: https://www.smart-csos.org/re-imagining-activism-english

Ollis, T. (2008). The ’Accidental’ Activist: Learning, Embodiment and Action. Australian  Journal of Adult Learning, 48(2), 316-335.

Parsons E. C. M. (2016).  “Advocacy” and “Activism” Are Not Dirty Words–How Activists Can Better Help Conservation Scientists. Frontiers in Marine Science, Vol. 3. DOI: 10.3389/fmars.2016.00229       

Rose, N. A., and Parsons, E. C. M. (2015). “Back off, man, I’m a scientist!” When marine conservation science meets policy. Ocean Coast. Manag. 115, 71–76. doi: 10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2015.04.016

Siegle, L. & Mustil, T. (2020). Episode 7: War of the Words. So hot right now. [Podcast]. Retrieved from:  https://podtail.com/it/podcast/so-hot-right-now/war-of-the-words/

Tilleczek, K., & Campbell, V.M. (Eds). (2019). Youth in the digital age: Paradox, promise, predicament. Abingdon, UK, Routledge Publishing.

Tuck, E. (2009, Fall). Suspending Damage: A Letter to Communities. Harvard Educational Review, 79 (3), pp. 409 – 427.

Yes Men. (2021). “Bespoke aircraft couture” company accepted into COP26 climate programs (press release). Yes Men. Retrieved from: https://theyesmen.org/project/yasava/fakerelease