DeepSummary
In this podcast episode, Chelsea Mikael Frazier, a Black feminist eco-critic, discusses her journey into Black feminist study and its connection to environmental thought. She explains how Black feminist literature has always privileged the relationship between subjectivity and the environment, though it did not necessarily announce itself as environmentalism. Frazier highlights the need to move away from a 'colonial earth ethic' that perpetuates ecological harm and disconnection from the environment.
Frazier emphasizes the importance of spirituality, particularly from Black and Indigenous communities, as a transformative resource for developing harmonious relationships with the environment. She stresses the need to unlearn the shame and individualistic mindset often associated with mainstream environmentalism and instead focus on collective efforts and alternative economic systems that do not rely on resource extraction.
Frazier calls for centering Black and Indigenous voices and perspectives in addressing ecological breakdown and rebuilding sustainable systems. She encourages readers to support and protect the organizations and movements led by these communities, as they have been at the forefront of alternative world-building and ecological justice.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- Black feminist literature has long explored the relationship between subjectivity and the environment, though it did not explicitly label itself as environmentalism.
- The dominant 'colonial earth ethic' perpetuates ecological harm and disconnection from the environment, and there is a need to move towards alternative frameworks.
- Spirituality, particularly from Black and Indigenous communities, offers a transformative potential for developing harmonious relationships with the environment.
- Mainstream environmentalism often relies on individualistic, shame-based tactics and practices that can be harmful, particularly to marginalized communities.
- Centering Black and Indigenous voices and perspectives is crucial for addressing ecological breakdown and building sustainable systems that challenge the status quo.
- Alternative economic systems that do not rely on resource extraction and scarcity mindsets are necessary for building harmonious relationships with the environment.
- Reading and education alone are not enough; action, resource redistribution, and protection of Black and Indigenous-led organizations and movements are essential.
- The collapse of the current unsustainable system is likely to be a gradual process, not a sudden cataclysmic event, necessitating proactive alternative world-building.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “One of the most powerful untapped resources is spirituality. And spirituality is something that particularly spirituality from black and indigenous communities all over the world has been so denigrated and so viciously attacked that many, many people have been, are unaware of its, of its transformative potential.“ by Doctor Chelsea Mikhail Frazier
- “So I grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and, and Minneapolis is a place, I don't know if you've heard the term Minnesota nice, but, you know, it's a place that is kind of very liberal and it's political orientation and that even can show up in the way that people relate to each other interpersonally. But as a young black girl, for me, a lot of the time, Minnesota nice was pretty much just passive aggressiveness.“ by Doctor Chelsea Mikhail Frazier
- “If black and indigenous voices were centered in those conversations, and they were not centered as a result of there being complicit in a larger, kind of, like, white liberal mission. If they actually were centered, everything that we know would be unrecognizable. It would be a new world. It would be the next evolutionary step.“ by Doctor Chelsea Mikhail Frazier
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Episode Information
Green Dreamer: Seeding change towards collective healing, sustainability, regeneration
Kamea Chayne
4/5/22
This is a replay of our past interview with Chelsea Mikael Frazier, Ph.D., a Black Feminist eco-critic who writes, researches and teaches at the intersection of Black feminist theory and environmental thought.
(The musical offering in this episode is Debt by Luna Bec.)
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