"St. Lawrence River Guardians" by Tzintzun Aguilar-Izzo
This paper was published in the 89th Volume of the "Journal of Rural Sociology." However, the storytellers of this paper are Water, Rivers and the many beings that sustain these communities. The article was a collaboration between Talking Wings and Dr. Leanne Avery. The humans, here offer an alternative methodology of ecocentric storytelling and artistic representation, to elevate the voice of both ecosystems and all their inhabitants. The two case studies presented are centered on environmental/social movements that foreground the inherent personhood of the natural world.
The first case study focuses on the Ashokan Reservoir, in the Catskill Mountains, on land guarded by the Lenape. It is a location that has suffered multiple waves of colonization and successfully resisted a large damming operation. The second case study is centered on the Upper St. Lawrence River/Kaniatarowanénhne Watershed, Haudenosaunee Territory, where rural communities are uniting to grant Rights to the Rivers that bring life to their communities. Both cases exemplify the story of communities that defended their livelihoods and environments by uniting with their most reliable allies, the Water, and all their more-than-human guardians.
Here we present an excerpt:
Water Speaks
It’s unfathomable how we started, and yet we came to be. In the turmoil of a new
beginning, when fire and gas erupted to shape a still young crust, we played our role
in deciding the identity of the planet humans now call Earth. Mountains rose and
fell, and we carved our way through the landscape, changing form, discovering new
pathways. We like dark places, where we pool and sit waiting in contemplative silence.
We like high jumps, where we can liberate our energy as we run towards our next
life. We like to take up a lot of space, covering the high peaks with mantles of ice.
And when the ice melts, we slowly eat into the land, moving rocks, and reshaping the
world to our liking, so our passage will never be forgotten.
We like to jump out of the fissures of the earth and join in Rivers, until our long
bodies become the most prominent feature of the landscape (Fausch 2015). How
much we like to move, and we’ve never stopped. Since the beginning, our planet has
changed faces many times, and we’ve helped with the makeovers. Nothing is static,
and we change with time as the space we inhabit changes with us.
bodies become the most prominent feature of the landscape (Fausch 2015). How
much we like to move, and we’ve never stopped. Since the beginning, our planet has
changed faces many times, and we’ve helped with the makeovers. Nothing is static,
and we change with time as the space we inhabit changes with us.
We’ve seen a lot of life pass by, from the smallest microorganisms to the largest
beings that have roamed the Earth. Life has grown and ebbed alongside our passage,
for there was never life, as humans intend it, when we weren’t around. We fed the
plants, with their searching roots and their interconnected society. We have taken
care of everything that has ever moved, eaten, and breathed, with our infinite bodies,
through our smallest beings.
beings that have roamed the Earth. Life has grown and ebbed alongside our passage,
for there was never life, as humans intend it, when we weren’t around. We fed the
plants, with their searching roots and their interconnected society. We have taken
care of everything that has ever moved, eaten, and breathed, with our infinite bodies,
through our smallest beings.
We have seen many species come and go as the world changed. We’ve seen generations
thrive, and disappear, when the planet becomes hotter or colder. And here
we are again facing another change. A change we hadn’t quite expected, because
it wasn’t supposed to be this fast. It wasn’t supposed to leave us in shambles, dirtier
than we’ve ever been, locked in cages that should not have existed, exploited for the
benefit of one power alone: the human capitalist economy.
thrive, and disappear, when the planet becomes hotter or colder. And here
we are again facing another change. A change we hadn’t quite expected, because
it wasn’t supposed to be this fast. It wasn’t supposed to leave us in shambles, dirtier
than we’ve ever been, locked in cages that should not have existed, exploited for the
benefit of one power alone: the human capitalist economy.
Over the millennia, the human species took the lead in shaping this planet, slowly
imposing their control over everything, believing they could govern over us as well.
Their anthropocentric paradigm stands at the foundation of European colonialism
and the scientific revolution. The slave trade has turned human bodies, ecosystems,
and all their non-human inhabitants into private property, transforming all living
entities into tradeable commodities, thus declaring war on the entire planet (Figure 1).
We have seen European colonial nations race across the world to establish their
trade/war dominance. In the process, entire ecosystems were deprived of their personhood.
imposing their control over everything, believing they could govern over us as well.
Their anthropocentric paradigm stands at the foundation of European colonialism
and the scientific revolution. The slave trade has turned human bodies, ecosystems,
and all their non-human inhabitants into private property, transforming all living
entities into tradeable commodities, thus declaring war on the entire planet (Figure 1).
We have seen European colonial nations race across the world to establish their
trade/war dominance. In the process, entire ecosystems were deprived of their personhood.
From the enslaved populations of humans to the deforestation of so-called
New England, us, the Waters, the multitude of other living beings and Land themself
were stripped of all agency. The entire world has become a sacrifice zone, and the
current crisis is the latest consequence of the human colonialist/capitalist addiction
to owning everything.
New England, us, the Waters, the multitude of other living beings and Land themself
were stripped of all agency. The entire world has become a sacrifice zone, and the
current crisis is the latest consequence of the human colonialist/capitalist addiction
to owning everything.
"The Eyes of Water" by Blake Lavia