Alternative Narratives for Reconciliation, Repair and a Utopic Future

The dominant stories that often frame climate change narratives are dystopian, apocalyptic ones (Whyte, 2018. P. 224). These stories often describe a positively framed, peaceful and pleasant past, with a brief period of societal disintegration devolving into an apocalyptic future where a white, affluent protagonist adapts to a desolate and chaotic dystopic future world. As Whyte shares, these stories are told from the lens of settlers, who are only now beginning to feel the destructive effects of colonialism that has been inflicting apocalyptic and dystopian realities on indigenous peoples for hundreds of years (Whyte, 2018; Whyte, 2017).

In light of Whyte’s insights, an important alternative then to those dominant narratives would be to tell stories that center the perspectives of those whose realities are already dystopic – indigenous communities as well as Black and other oppressed communities. Dionne Brand describes the harmful media line promising we will ‘get back to normal’ after the COVID-19 pandemic (2020). This rally cry infers that our pre-pandemic status quo was utopic, when in fact our society was and continues to be violent and gravely unfair for so many oppressed groups (Black, Indigenous, LGBTQIA2+, differently-abled, geographically displaced peoples and so many others). Brand goes on to describe how these groups are always being promised a better future after we address the current emergency (in this case the pandemic), to quietly endure and bear the injustice until some future time that is always just out of reach, when we will have the time and money to address the needs of oppressed groups (2020).    

Alternative narratives can also be empowering and hopeful, as with the following beautiful prose:

We the first peoples of this land have Armageddon in our bones and utopia in our souls. Generations of trauma are imprinted on our chromosomes, linking our DNA to the sorrow of our ancestors.

Halcyon memories of continent-wide freedom resonate from our songs, shaking the souls of our Elders and calling our children to dance. We have inherited the dreams and nightmares of forebears — hereditary chiefs and abducted children, fierce warriors and ingenious artists, loving grandmothers and vagabond uncles.

We live in an era of reconciliation, but it would take an unprecedented transformation for the immense wrongs perpetrated against our people to be put right. To begin, we must peer into the abyss of these injustices.

Julian Brave noisecat

While laying bare the horrors of colonial past and present, NoiseCat at the same time celebrates the resilience, creativity, power and solidarity of indigenous peoples (2021). As a Canadian settler, I am moved by his call to ‘peer into the abyss’ and must of course start with myself.

The process of decolonizing my perspective and unlearning my colonial worldview is a messy, iterative and humbling process. I found Whyte’s descriptions of spiralling time in indigenous ways of experiencing past, present and future to be helpful in my own reflections on reconciliation and repair (2018). He describes the process of indigenous peoples engaging in dialogue with both their ancestors and descendants and how, through this process, “we can connect ourselves to the errors of our ancestors and work to change how we do things today so as to learn needed lessons to pass on to future generations” (Whyte, 2018, p. 238). I think this spiralling time approach is something I can learn from as a settler – I need to engage in constant dialogue between my past and future relatives to work through the process of decolonizing my perspective: first unpacking and acknowledging the mistakes of my ancestors, then using that new understanding when co-creating a better future, building something that is worthy of all future generations.

(Tiny Ecology Post 4)

Note: This post was in response to Tiny Ecology Prompt 5, 2nd prompt: “… Describe at least one dominant story you see operating in climate discussions. What does the story tell you is possible for the future? What does the story suggest is not possible? Who are the main actors in the story? Who is left on the outside? Are there alternative stories?”… (S. Houlden, personal communication, October 25, 2021).

References

Brand, D. (2020). Dionne Brand: On narrative, reckoning and the calculus of living and dying. Toronto Star. https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2020/07/04/dionne-brand-on-narrative-reckoning-and-the-calculus-of-living-and-dying.html

NoiseCat, J.B. (2021).  Armageddon in Our Bones, Utopia in Our Souls. Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada; Forewords. Canadian Geographic. https://indigenouspeoplesatlasofcanada.ca/forewords/armageddon-in-our-bones-utopia-in-our-souls/.

Whyte, K. (2018). Indigenous science (fiction) for the Anthropocene: Ancestral dystopias and fantasies of climate change crises. Sage Journals. https://doi.org/10.1177/2514848618777621

Whyte, K. (2017). Indigenous Climate Change Studies: Indigenizing Futures, Decolonizing the Anthropocene. English Language Notes, 55(1), 153-162.