Dogs and humans and what earth can be

Abstract

Climate change is knowledge produced by running empirical data on weather through global simulation models. In contradistinction to the approach that studies how people come to be schooled to perceive climate change or produce their own accounts of change in an indigenous idiom, I show how knowledge of it is met by disbelief by Muslim farmers (chauras) living on eroding and accreting silt and sand islands (chars) within the Jamuna River in Bangladesh. Such disbelief is not unlike the denial that ordinarily greets news of climate change elsewhere. If one were to turn away from asking how people are taking up (or not) the issue of climate change, it is in smaller gestures of incorporating repugnant others, in this case dogs, that one sees reflections on divine creation qua creatureliness. And following such reflections on Creation through fables, narratives, and the everyday of the chauras, we see how Muslim cosmology and eschatology hold promise of ecological thought, providing an unexpectedly materialist perspective on our creaturely interconnectedness. They also provide an anticipatory register of climate change within chaura life through the intensification of suffering in the present, while allowing for disbelief in climate change as poisoned knowledge from the West.

Muslims and climate change: How Islam, Muslim organizations, and religious leaders influence climate change perceptions and mitigation activities

“…Finally, a few studies also mention climate change skepticism among Muslim communities (Khan, 2014; O'Reilly, 2018; Yildirim, 2016) and governments of Muslim‐majority countries (i.e., Saudi Arabia, see Depledge, 2008). For example, Khan reports that Muslim farmers in the Jamuna River region (Bangladesh), where the soil is eroding and shifting, perceive the concept of climate change as “poisonous knowledge from the West” (Khan, 2014). Similarly, Yildirim suggests that Muslims who approve an Islamist political ideology tend to regard environmentalism as a Western conspiracy to weaken Muslim‐majority countries in terms of their economic development and population size (Yildirim, 2016).…”

How “green” can religions be? Tensions about religious environmentalism

“… 2019 ). However, among Muslims, we can also find groups that regard “climate change” as “poisonous knowledge from the West” (Khan 2014 ) or as a Western conspiracy to weaken Muslim-majority countries (Yildirim 2016 ). Apart from skepticism about climate change, its acceptance as a sign of the looming end-of-times constitutes a hindrance for climate engagement (Nche 2020 ; Barker and Bearce 2013 ; Artur and Hilhorst 2012 ).…”

“…In terms of skepticism about environmental problems, a prominent topic is climate change denial, often reported to be prevalent among sections of Christianity (Zaleha and Szasz 2015;Veldman 2019;Carr et al 2012;Hayhoe et al 2019). However, among Muslims, we can also find groups that regard "climate change" as "poisonous knowledge from the West" (Khan 2014) or as a Western conspiracy to weaken Muslim-majority countries (Yildirim 2016). Apart from skepticism about climate change, its acceptance as a sign of the looming end-of-times constitutes a hindrance for climate engagement (Nche 2020;Barker and Bearce 2013;Artur and Hilhorst 2012).…”

Framing climate change in frontline communities: anthropological insights on how mountain dwellers in the USA, Peru, and Italy adapt to glacier retreat

“…Khan's account of a riverine island in Bangladesh shows that local residents account for floods, which are growing more frequent and severe, through their particular form of Islam. These interpretations explain moments of good fortune and misfortune and indicate the responsibilities of humans to each other and to other beings in such circumstances (Khan 2014a). The residents are aware of a cosmopolitan frame of disaster risk reduction linked to climate change and participate in NGO-based programs that draw on it.…”