Initially scheduled to be our first issue of Volume 2, this theme was postponed. Read why at link below.
For issue no. 1 of our second year, we invite Indigenous people in Southern Appalachia and the broader Southeast to teach us about the complexities of nativity in a colonized and globalized society, as well as the difficulties of framing nativity in ecology.
What have we forfeited or missed in our pursuit of scientific objectivity?
What does collaboration between modern science and postcolonial Indigenous wisdom look like in a world where life itself is at stake? When we discuss processes and practices like land back, indigenous sovereignty, and decolonization—how do we conceive of these things with regards to ecologies that continue to be brutalized and displaced by invasive species?
As we wake from the delusional trance of industrial society, the degree to which we are alienated from our ecologies comes into full focus.
There was a time when we found ourselves within our habitat as coevolved members of a multispecies community.
While the relationship between human society and the environment has never been perfect, it is undeniable that we have fallen grossly out of balance with our ecosystems in the wake of colonization and industrialization.
Greed cannot see beyond the tip of its nose, and the pursuit of power knows nothing of belonging. In this sense, coloniality is placeless, natureless, and narcissistically hedonic.
The word “native” permeates much of the language we use when we talk about ecology. “Plant native!” has even become a common clarion call within the ecological landscape movement. Those words function like a beloved dictum for us here at Mergoat, a guiding light.
As we bear witness to the destructive practices of industrial capitalism maturing into catastrophic climate change and mass extinction, we see a corresponding surge of people taking interest in the complexities that make up our ecosystems—reflecting a desire to understand, relate to, and to protect those systems.
How do we ensure we do not replicate the ecological mistakes that have been perpetuated since colonization?
In the cultural use of the word, the popular use, and within the world of science itself, certain conditions constrict our understanding of nativity and indigeneity.
There is growing concern amongst practitioners that words like “native” and “invasive” lack cultural sensitivity when they are detached from their broader use within historical and contemporary society—demonstrating an all too common mark of detachment within scientific fields from broader socio-political realities.
Even more troublesome are the haphazard and speculative practices emerging from well-meaning people in fields adjacent to ecology.
In order to correctly problematize and contextualize invasive species, we must first deepen our understanding of what it means to be native.