Visual Storytelling, Intergenerational Environmental Justice and Indigenous Sovereignty: Exploring Images and Stories amid a Contested Oil Pipeline Project

Abstract

Visual practices of representing fossil fuel projects are entangled in diverse values and relations that often go underexplored. In Canada, visual media campaigns to aggressively push forward the fossil fuel industry not only relegate to obscurity indigenous values but mask evidence on health impacts as well as the aspirations of those most affected, including indigenous communities whose food sovereignty and stewardship relationship to the land continues to be affronted by oil pipeline expansion. The Tsleil-Waututh Nation, based at the terminal of the Trans Mountain Pipeline in Canada, has been at the forefront of struggles against the pipeline expansion. Contributing to geographical, environmental studies, and public health research grappling with the performativity of images, this article explores stories conveying health, environmental, and intergenerational justice concerns on indigenous territory. Adapting photovoice techniques, elders and youth illustrated how the environment has changed over time; impacts on sovereignty—both food sovereignty and more broadly; concepts of health, well-being and deep cultural connection with water; and visions for future relationships. We explore the importance of an intergenerational lens of connectedness to nature and sustainability, discussing visual storytelling not just as visual counter-narrative (to neocolonial extractivism) but also as an invitation into fundamentally different ways of seeing and interacting.

Decoloniality and anti-oppressive practices for a more ethical ecology

“…Collaborations between artists and scientists and between Indigenous people and colonizers can result in even more creative ways to exchange and mutually enrich knowledge and understanding through innovative art-science projects such as Becoming Sensor in Sentient Worlds 115 , a kinaesthetic and visual exploration of the ungrid-able ecology of oak savannahs of Toronto's High Park. Science-art collaborations can help to bridge cultural gaps and improve understanding of Indigenous knowledge by harnessing the power of sound, visuals and storytelling 116,117 , and to communicate the urgency of climate change 118,119 . of colour to lead programmes of data collection and analysis and hold data repositories in the Global South.…”

Indigenous Environmental Justice within Marine Ecosystems: A Systematic Review of the Literature on Indigenous Peoples’ Involvement in Marine Governance and Management

“…Access to one or more flora and fauna (such as salmon for Alaskan Native peoples) is a prerequisite to achieving well-being for many Indigenous peoples [163,[170][171][172]. Furthermore, when thinking about what constitutes environmental justice, Indigenous peoples discuss the importance of marine governance and management approaches to foster their well-being and their ecosystems and how human-fisheries relationships need to be sustained for future generations [103,[173][174][175][176].…”

“…Despite the existence of treaties and laws that acknowledge and, in some instances, actively support Indigenous self-determination and sovereignty, many Indigenous peoples report that their authority is undermined by outside organisations (governments, NGOs, industries). They are, therefore, unable to exert their Indigenous sovereignty to its total capacity [176,203,204]. As the trend to create more and larger MPAs continues (#33), proponents, governments and planners involved in establishing MPAs should take into account the problems associated with misrecognition (or lack of recognition) of Indigenous peoples (of their cultural identities, values, livelihoods, and sovereignties).…”

Environmental Justice and Indigenous Environmental Justice

“…Western liberal theorises of EJ (which remain dominant within both the international scholarship and policymaking domains) continue to claim neutrally, impartially, and universally. Yet, Indigenous scholars, including Watene and Winter, are challenging the field of EJ to reconsider and extend what constitutes life and dignity supporting environments for all peoples around the globe (including those from non-Western cultures) in the context of changing climate conditions and its intergenerational justice ramifications (Budowle et al 2019 ; Spiegel et al 2020 ; Watene 2016 ; Winter 2019b ). The critical question is, what does EJ look like if we are to take into account the ontologies of Indigenous peoples in the context of freshwater governance and management?…”