Media and Transnational Climate Justice: Indigenous Activism and Climate Politics

• In Event: Frontiers of Climate Change and Extinction: Rendering Worlds Familiar and Strange

Abstract

At UN climate summits, indigenous activists from around the world gather to fight for climate justice. This paper discusses their experiences with and strategies towards media. It looks specifically at the transnational character of indigenous activism, addressing tensions and intersections between geographical scales along which the environment, politics and media are understood (local, national, international and transnational) as well as between media forms (legacy, social and indigenous media). Social media and self-mediation offers opportunities for indigenous activists to connect and to challenge the hegemony of national legacy media; in particular, hegemonic views on how nature, people and rights relate to the nation-state. We need however to consider not only who has a voice but also what audiences listen to and interact with these voices. The paper thus builds on interviews with activists and on quantitative and qualitative analysis of legacy and social media content. Theories on agonistic democracy and on justice, responsibility and solidarity in a global age frame the study.

Author

• Matthew Tegelberg, York University