A Decolonial Ecology

The world is in the midst of a storm. A storm that has shaped the history of modernity along a double fracture: on the one hand, an environmental fracture driven by a technocratic and capitalist civilization that led to the ongoing devastation of the Earth's ecosystems and its human and non-human communities, and, on the other hand, a colonial fracture instilled by Western colonization and imperialism that resulted in slavery and the domination of Indigenous peoples and women in particular.

While these two sides are thought about separately, the tempest continues unabated. So far, environmental thought has maintained this divide, suggesting a Noah's ark that conceals social inequalities, gender discrimination and racism, and neglects demands for justice. In this important new book, Malcom Ferdinand challenges this double fracture, thinking from the Caribbean world. Here, the slave ship reveals the inequalities that persist during the storm: some are shackled inside the hold and even thrown overboard at the first gusts of wind. Drawing on empirical and theoretical work in the Caribbean, Ferdinand conceptualizes a decolonial ecology that holds together the protection of the environment and the political struggles against (post)colonial domination, structural racism, and misogynistic practices.

Facing the storm, this book is an invitation to build a world-ship where humans and non-humans can live together on a bridge of justice and shape a common world. It will be of great interest to students and scholars in environmental humanities, Latin American and Caribbean studies, social and political theory, and anyone interested in ecology, slavery, and (de)colonization.