We can't find the internet
Attempting to reconnect
Something went wrong!
Hang in there while we get back on track
Cultural Narratives in Environmental Activism
Summary
This review examines how cultural narratives rooted in local identity, spirituality, dispossession, and collective memory shape environmental activism and ecological policymaking across diverse global contexts. Drawing on case studies and historical trajectories, the paper finds that community storytelling and historical reinterpretation drive grassroots mobilization and challenge technocratic environmental governance frameworks.
This paper examines the role of cultural narratives in shaping environmental activism and influencing ecological policy. It examines how communities construct, resist, and reshape dominant environmental discourses through storytelling, historical reinterpretation, media representation, and protest. Drawing on case studies, historical trajectories, and diverse global perspectives, the research highlights how narratives rooted in local identity, spirituality, dispossession, and collective memory offer compelling alternatives to the master narrative of environmental decline. These cultural framings drive grassroots mobilization, challenge technocratic approaches, and center environmental justice for marginalized populations. By tracing the evolution of environmental storytelling from early preservationist discourse to digital-era climate justice campaigns, the paper underscores how narrative agency becomes a strategic and affective tool in the struggle for ecological sustainability, territorial sovereignty, and policy change. The findings call for a critical reassessment of the cultural foundations of environmental politics and a recognition of the power of narrative pluralism in fostering inclusive, impactful, and resilient environmental movements. Keywords: Cultural narratives, Environmental activism, Environmental justice, Storytelling and protest, Climate change discourse, Indigenous ecological knowledge, Media representation.
Sign in to start a discussion.
More Papers Like This
Indigenous Art and Sovereignty Inspiring Change against Environmental Degradation
This review examines how Indigenous artists and writers from the Pacific Islands, Australia, French Guiana, the Caribbean, and Southeast Asia engage with environmental degradation and plastic pollution through creative practices rooted in sovereignty and cultural identity. The authors argue that Indigenous artistic practices offer alternative frameworks for imagining sustainable coexistence with the environment and responding to the legacy of colonisation.
A threat to democracy? Water protests in France and Germany
Researchers examined water protest movements in France and Germany through the lens of democratic theory, analysing how environmental crisis narratives are deployed to justify exercises of power and how such narratives can be used both to mobilise civic action and to curtail democratic authority over water governance.
Wisdom Local Tegal City Communities in the Modernization Era and Strategies to Maintain It
This study documents the local ecological wisdom of indigenous communities in Tegal City, Indonesia, examining how traditional environmental knowledge and practices are being challenged by modernization. The authors identify strategies for preserving this knowledge as part of broader efforts to maintain cultural identity and sustainable land management.
Exploration of the Impact of Religious Activities on Waste Management Behavior: An Analysis of the Understanding of Environmental Ethics
Researchers used a qualitative sociological approach to explore how religious observance activities influence waste management behavior in Indonesia, analyzing the relationship between environmental ethics grounded in religious practice and concrete waste-handling decisions among community members.
Food Chains, Ecosystems and Myths: A Lasting Anthropological Concern
This anthropological review traces the long history of ecosystem thinking in anthropology before the rise of modern environmentalism, examining how cultural practices have evolved to manage sustainable human-environment interactions through food chains and ecological feedback loops.