"Our Ocean is Not a Sacrifice Zone": Deepening Climate Justice Against Extraction

This lecture centres Indigenous responses to climate change by focusing on a US proposal for deep-sea mining in an area bordering the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument and the entangled forms of economic and scientific thinking about the Mariana Trench as a site for extraction. It considers how Indigenous Pacific Islanders are mediating responses to mining and commercialization through exclusive economic zones. Examining their advocacy for climate justice from the world's highest court to the deepest ocean on Earth, this work expands analyses of power through listening to the heroes of Micronesia and their collective protection for oceanic ancestors. 

This event is open to the general public and does not require registration (but please note that our seating is limited). The event will be followed by a reception in the Piano Lounge, Graham House.

Co-organized and co-sponsored by UBC's Pacific Islands Research Network, UBC's English Language and Literatures, UBC's Centre for Climate Justice, and UBC's Public Humanities Hub.

Tiara R Na’puti is an associate professor of Global and International Studies at the University of California, Irvine.  Dr Na’puti is a first-generation college student who received a master’s and doctorate in Communication Studies, and a certificate in Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS) from The University of Texas at Austin.  She is a Chamoru scholar (Guåhan/Guam) who focuses on issues of Indigenous movements, colonialism, and militarism in the Mariana Islands archipelago and throughout Oceania. Dr Na’puti works with organizations addressing immigration rights and issues facing Native and Indigenous Pacific Islander populations. Her research has been published in venues such as American Quarterly, AmerAsia, Environmental Communication, Security Dialogue, The Contemporary Pacific, Micronesian Educator, and the Quarterly Journal of Speech. She is a PI on the three-year “Archipelagos of Indigenous-led Resurgence for Planetary Health” project, and was the 2021-22 recipient of a Mellon/ACLS Scholars and Society Fellowship for her project Sovereignty and Climate Change in Guåhan: Creating a Sustainable Future. She is currently editing a book volume called Detours Guåhan: A Decolonial Guide.