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Despite the proliferation of climate justice debates, equity considerations remain predominantly western, human centric, and exclusionary. Further, IndigiQueer impacts and perspectives continue to be marginalized, although as we hear from our guests, there is power in the margins. In this episode, Hōkū and Heather talk with Dr. Lewis Williams and Jordan Ramnarine who contend that IndigiQueer people have unique strengths, roles, and responsibilities in Indigenous Resurgence and for visioning otherwise realities to colonialism and hetero-patriarchy. For Lewis and Jordan, an assertion of IndigiQueer cosmologies is a refusal of the hierarchal, patriarchal logic of domination that causes ecological devastation. In this sense, the resurgence of Two Spirit, queer, and non-binary subject positions and world views is more than cultural reclamation; it is “an eco-political imperative!” IndigiQueer climate activism illuminates Indigenous cosmologies for all beings. We hear about how Kent Monkman and Joshua Whitehead are two artists making IndigiQueer content that simultaneously critiques hetero-normativity and colonialism while also opening space for otherwise realities to emerge.
Lewis Williams is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography and Environment at Western University and Founding Director of the Alliance for Intergenerational Resilience. Williams’ ancestors are of the people of Ngāi Te Rangi, Scotland, Wales, and Germany. Their work focuses on Indigenous feminisms and queer theory, critical cultural geographies, social-ecological resilience, and Indigenous and traditional systems of healing.
Jordan Ramnarine is a queer, first generation, Indo Caribbean Canadian settler. He works at 2 Spirits as an HIV/STBBI Navigator. As an MPH graduate from the University of Toronto, Jordan is passionate about amplifying and centering the voices of made-marginalized folks within justice efforts in all its forms.
This podcast is created by the Impact Chair in Transformative Governance for Planetary Health at the University of Victoria, with production support from Cited Media. We receive additional support from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research You can find us at https://indigenousplanetaryhealth.ca/
