As I continue my research for my Honors in the Major undergraduate thesis project this summer, I have been refining my qualitative analysis skills and reading lots of literature on decolonialism, environmentalism, and spatial justice. My current read is Walter Mignolo’s 2005 book The Idea of Latin America, in which Mignolo traces the colonial history of the concept of Latin America and challenges it. Mignolo stresses the inseparability of coloniality from modernity and calls for epistemic decolonialism (that is, delinking colonial norms from modern systems of knowledge making and challenging commonly accepted ways of knowing the world).
I have thoroughly enjoyed this opportunity to explore decolonialism; as an English (Editing, Writing, and Media) and Environment & Society dual degree student, decolonial literature is something that I have touched on briefly in past courses but have yet to take a deep dive into. As an aspiring environmental lawyer who is passionate about social justice, I am very interested in the relationship that colonial systems of dispossession, hegemony, and exploitation have on ongoing environmental issues. I see both localized instances of environmental injustice and climate change writ large as products of colonialism and capitalism.
My project builds on my experience with the environmental humanities that I have been exposed to thus far at Florida State University. In various courses, I have engaged with scholars such as Rob Nixon, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Robert Bullard, Edward Soja, and others. It also gives me an outlet to apply the empirical knowledge I have gained in courses in natural sciences such as geology and climatology to a broader conversation about international policymaking, human rights, and environmental social theory. While I enjoy learning technical information about all concepts from geochemistry to paleoclimatology, I feel that my true passion is applying scientific knowledge to cultivate informed conversations about environmental justice and climate policy. This thesis will expand my knowledge about discourse analysis and international environmental policymaking, allowing me to approach these issues from an interdisciplinary perspective and relate my various academic areas of interest to one another in a tangible way.
At this point in my project, I am trying to wrap my mind around how to narrow these broad concepts down to more constructive applications. I am pulling prior and experience with these different ideas and attempting to relate many of them to my current research. Narrowing the scope of my research will help the direction of my thesis come into clearer focus as I work to finalize my draft of Chapter 1 and begin to draft Chapters 2 and 3 later this summer. This will also help my project realize its full potential and ensure that I am not trying to accomplish too much or discuss concepts that I am inadequately versed in. I plan to work on narrowing the scope of my research objectives and theoretical frameworks by conducting more research in Rights of Nature and epistemic decolonialism. Dr. Tarez Graban, my thesis director, has been an invaluable resource for me as I try to comprehend complex theories and make meaning from them. This summer, I meet with her regularly to discuss my ongoing research and ask questions. Under her mentorship and through determined self-motivation, I have no doubt that I will make significant progress in my research this summer.
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