Engendering the Anthropocene in Oceania: Fatalism, Resilience, Resistance

Abstract

The concept of the Anthropocene confounds Eurocentric distinctions of natural and human history, as Dipesh Chakrabarty observes. But who are ‘we’ in the Anthropocene, how do notions of our shared humanity contend with the cascading global inequalities of place, race, class and gender. Oceania is often said to have contributed the least and suffered the most from climate change. Pacific women, and especially those living on low lying atolls, have been portrayed as the most vulnerable to the disastrous consequences of climate change. This focuses on sea level rise and the toxic mixing, the elemental confusion of salt and fresh water caused by atmospheric changes and global warming. While not negating the gravity of present and future scenarios, how can we move beyond the pervasive fatalism of foreign framings and seemingly opposed clichéd evocations of ‘resilience’? The moniker of the Pacific Climate Warriors 350.org ‘We are not drowning, we are fighting’ evokes a contrary trope of resistance and resonates with Oceanic activism in politics and the creative arts.[i] Tracing such a genealogy of resistance might start with a greater respect for Indigenous knowledges and embodied practices in contemporary understandings of ‘climate cultures’ in Oceania which do not routinely distinguish between natural and human history.[ii]

Ocean Weaves: Reconfigurations of Climate Justice in Oceania

“…What is the function of these subtle and not-so-subtle misogynist tropes of mother nature’s chaotic revenge? Arguably, it is part of a multilayered ‘engendering’ of climate change in Oceania—to reference and build on Pacific Studies scholar Margaret Jolly’s (2019, pp. 176–178) analysis—which not only describes the ways in which women and those of gender and sexual fluidity are more at risk in the context of climate disaster, and the ways in which Pacific Islanders are represented as feminised victims in need of outside salvation (Farbotko and Lazrus, 2012), but also the ways in which the ocean itself is instrumentalised as a feminine chaos agent to justify the extractivist, development logic of climate mitigation and adaptation policy in Oceania.…”

Intersecting Inequalities, Moving Positionalities: An Interlude

“…Such paradigms led to the development of resilience theory (e.g. at the Stockholm Resilience Centre)-this, as with the use of resilience in other contexts of climate change, puts the emphasis of responsibility on the local poor rather than the global rich whose emissions are the primary cause (see Jolly, 2019a;McDonnell, 2019). According to Foale, this 'studiously ignored the role of colonialism and global capitalism in driving poverty and environmental destruction in the global economic periphery' (this volume).…”

“…The Fossil-fuelled Inequalities of Climate Change Foale's insights into the deeply unequal relations between natural scientists and anthropologists engaged in research on the environment are deeply disturbing for those of us who are struggling to redress the inequalities inherent in the current global crisis of climate change. As I see it, the global inequalities created by the fossil-fuelled capitalist overdevelopment (see Figure 2) of the world are both cause and consequence of our current climate emergency (see Jolly, 2018Jolly, , 2019aJolly, , 2019b. However, it is difficult to raise resistant hope when sceptics and deniers of climate change are wilfully spreading disinformation (with the support of fossil-fuelled interests).…”

‘Risky Data’ for Inclusive Microinsurance Infrastructures

“…Market-driven solutions to poverty alleviation have come to dominate international aid as the paradigm shifts to retheorize the poor as 'at risk' communities and to reconfigure development to enhance their 'resilience' (Cons, 2018;Jolly, 2019). Self-improving discourses have fuelled neoliberal policy and the global microfinance boom (Kar and Schuster, 2016;Schuster, 2015Schuster, , 2019 as poor people have been encouraged to take part in risky business ventures.…”