Trickster carbon: stories, science, and postcolonial interventions for climate justice

Abstract

This article proposes the idea of the trickster figure as a way to account for the shifting material, and cultural properties of carbon in the cultural politics of climate change. Combining scientific understandings of allotropy in chemistry -describing the property of certain elements to manifest in various highly diverse forms -and the insights of Caribbean trickster stories, trickster carbon enables novel understandings of the multiple workings and effects of carbon as a material and cultural element. Rather than granting 'carbon' a singular seemingly-scientific meaning or reducing carbon to a singular problem that master human agents can ever definitively trap or sequester, this notion allows us to view carbon's unique ability to shape-shift in a variety of contexts and for myriad agendas. Understanding carbon in this way provides more than simply a theoretical or imaginative 'romp'; rather, this lens enables both a critique of the ways in which carbon is mobilized in practice as a profit-generating tool of colonial capture and also a generative opening for understanding carbon's potential as a connector to more transformative associations and postcolonial politics. As an ambivalent and paradoxical figure, trickster carbon offers a powerful method of cultural way-finding through the urgent concern of climate change. Key words: Trickster; postcolonial; decolonial; STS; stories; cultural politics of climate change; carbon RésuméCet article propose l'idée du personnage du trickster comme un moyen de rendre compte du changement matériel et de propriétés culturelles du carbone, dans la politique culturelle du changement climatique. Combinant la compréhension scientifique de l'allotropie dans la chimie -décrivant la propriété de certains éléments de se manifester sous diverses formes -et la contribution des histoires de trickster caribéennes, le «carbone trickster» permet de nouvelles compréhensions des multiples travaux et effets du carbone en tant qu'élément matériel et culturel. Plutôt que d'accorder au «carbone» un sens singulier semblable à la science ou de réduire le carbone à un problème singulier que les humains peuvent définitivement piéger ou séquestrer, cette notion nous permet de voir la capacité unique du carbone à changer de forme dans divers contextes et pour une myriade d'agendas. Appréhender le carbone de cette manière fournit plus qu'une simple «farce» théorique ou imaginative. Au contraire, cet angle d'approche permet de critiquer la façon dont le carbone est mobilisé en pratique en tant qu'outil générateur de la capture coloniale, et de s'ouvrir à la compréhension de son potentiel en tant que connecteur aux associations transformatrices et à la politique postcoloniale. En tant que figure ambivalente et paradoxale, le «carbone trickster» offre une méthode solide pour lutter contre le changement climatique.

Imagination and transformations to sustainable and just futures

“…Narrative and story stand out as critical for their role in creating a shared imagination (Girvan, 2017;Ingram et al, 2019;Wittmayer et al, 2019). They play a central role in cognition (Patterson and Monroe, 1998;Woodiwiss, 2017), given the ways in which narrative aids in sensemaking and constructing coherence through a type of social-psychological infrastructure (Paschen and Ison, 2014), helping to simplify cognitive tasks.…”

Coal, Climate Justice, and the Cultural Politics of Energy Transition

“…Yet arguably, coal's reduction to abstract "carbon" in the global climate regime has itself been deeply problematic. As Anita Girvan (2017Girvan ( , 1039 observes, "there is no way to rid science of its cultural bearings, nor is there a way of decoupling stories from the material worlds they create," and the epistemic 7. Although industry lobbying and misinformation campaigns persist, spreading pro-coal discourse through corporate funding of private foundations, research institutes and 'astroturfing' campaigns designed to distort debate with ventriloquised 'grassroots' voices (Bsumek et al 2014).…”

“…The logics and social character of mobilizations and protests are variable and contingent-they might presuppose particular power relations and cultural narratives around energy, labor, or care for the environment (derivative of local and national histories); be rooted in material experiences of hardship; or articulate "universal" values that transcend any immediate locality. And, just as resistance to coal is animated by various concerns, the residual support for coal is contingent on the diverse popular imaginaries that equate coal variously with working-class solidarity, masculinity, economic security, and the strength and prosperity of the nation (Bell and York 2010;Bodenhamer 2016;Girvan 2017;Herrero and Lemkow 2015;Lahiri-Dutt 2016;Perreault and Valdivia 2010). This literature-drawing from experiences across the world-is important in highlighting the core assumptions and beliefs that people employ to make sense of their social environment, in turn raising questions concerning how knowledge claims achieve hegemonic status.…”