Decolonizing environmentalism: Addressing ecological and Indigenous colonization through arts-based communication
Geo Takach
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3192-6642 geo.takach@royalroads.ca and Kyera CookView all authors and affiliations
OnlineFirst
https://doi.org/10.1177/09632719231224115 This article seeks to advance connecting the two societal priorities of environmental protection and what has been called ‘Indigenous reconciliation’ through arts-based communication (and particularly arts-based research), to help engage and inspire people towards sustaining a healthy planet and a just society. Through lenses of social justice, decolonizing critique and holistic environmental ideologies, this work explores theoretical and practical, real-world intersections of environmentalist, Indigenous and arts-based imperatives and ways of knowing. The goal is twofold: first, to seek to engage readers in viewing the colonization of the planet and its First Peoples as intimately related, and ultimately, to bring together diverse literatures to suggest ideas, language and a model to foster communication aimed at redressing both of those colonialist evils. To acknowledge this intersection of environmental and Indigenous approaches in arts-based settings, the term ‘environmental conciliation’ is proposed and defined as ‘environmental protection in ways that acknowledge, address, and aim to redress imbalances in power among Indigenous people and non-Indigenous settlers honestly, respectfully, openly, creatively and positively.
Positioning the researchers
As authors, we recognize the significance of sharing our life and work connections to this research in Coast Salish Territory. One of the authors, Kyera, a non-Indigenous academic, began her relationship with the Indigenous community when her mother pursued a First Nations program, connecting their family to Coast Salish events in the unceded territories of the Snuneymuxw, Snaw-Naw-As, Quw’utsun and Tla’amin (Nanaimo area). During her master's thesis, Kyera collaborated with tribal park guardians in Tla-o-qui-aht territory (Nuu-chah-nulth Nation), deepening her understanding of the impact of colonization on Indigenous communities and the environment. Working with the Squamish Nation at their outdoor school cultural programs further enriched her knowledge of Indigenous elders. Now, alongside Professor Geo Takach, she is devoted to fostering conciliation through arts-based communication. Author Geo is a non-Indigenous product of parents who fled colonization of their homeland to settle on lands sometimes called Canada, where he was born and awakened to issues of social and environmental justice. After spending most of his life on Treaty 6 lands, he landed in Lekwungen-speaking territory (AKA the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations on what's sometimes called Vancouver Island) to take up full-time faculty duties at Royal Roads University (RRU), where he is grateful to learn and work with Indigenous luminaries who continue to inspire his life and work. A key recent adventure is his collaboration with RRU's Director of Indigenous Education, Russell Johnston, to co-develop and co-teach their undergraduate course, Communication in Indigenous Contexts. His research and teaching in communication and culture interweave environmental, Indigenous and arts-based approaches to encourage good relations with the Earth and also Her First Peoples.1
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/09632719231224115
