Narratives, Institutions, and the Environment

I watched last Wednesday, November 10th, two short documentaries. As images appeared, I asked myself the following question: what is the role of narratives, institutions, and the environment in contemporary societies?

Narratives are powerful. They can either change behavior by inspiring and mobilizing communities or reinforce beliefs rooted in historical patronage and subservient relations.

In the documentary “Sliding Liberia”, two passages struck me. When a young Liberian revealed that watching a boy “sliding” waves had inspired him and the whole community to fight for change and when a lady affirmed that Liberia did not need politicians but foreign visitors.

The idea behind the first statement is that inspiration comes mainly from watching people who look alike doing great things. The social identification that a community has with an individual that presents similar physical and cultural backgrounds is higher than in relation with aliens, as defined Tajfel in his social identity theory. That is why a local boy surfing rather than a visitor resonates more profoundly in communal hearts and minds.

The second point, the one expressed by the lady who said that institutions are needless, revealed the noble belief that Liberians have on shaping the future. However, this passage, if interpreted radically, poses a threat to social stability by not encouraging the establishment and reform of local institutions. Extrapolating, hopelessness in local leadership may end up conceding political power to foreigners from who are expected to introduce better practices and bring in strong currencies.

Change comes from inside. The people who live in a piece of land have priceless connection to indigenous values, tradition, and history. If the process is inverted, insiders passively expect benevolences from outsiders or outsiders mistakenly end up believing that they are uniquely responsible for insiders’ well-being. In both cases, if local communities do not mobilize, internal - mainly economic and cultural - problems tend to aggravate. The dependency mindset that permeates the decisions of people from colonized countries partially explains this logic. This detrimental rationale is addressed when organized changes come from within the borders, as defended by Taiaiake Alfred in "Wasáse".

The second documentary ”180 South” also made me wonder on the issue of narrative and its role in shaping perspectives mainly in the relationship between settlers and colonized, humans and nature.

Once again, like Robinson Crusoe’s tale, the storyline of a navigator adrift and later in a remote island running into an indigenous beauty who shows him the hidden natural treasures of an isolated society and the purity of living in close connection and energy exchange with the environment portrays a view of the Eden, the idyllic setting of Adam and Eve.

On the one hand, this narrative reinforces the negative aspects of urban societies by contrasting the lives of an adventurer urban guy with of a beauty rural girl. On the other, it implies that one has to be isolated to lead a life free from daily rat race stress most prevalent in urban agglomeration.

In the second documentary, I also enjoyed the citation to the book “Collapse”, from Jared Diamond, affirming that the reason for Eastern Island people had ended their civilization was the overexploitation of natural resources. Also, that industrialized societies seemed not to have learned from past mistakes since we have not yet come up with sustainable living systems.

Concerning this passage what struck me was the confusion between nature and the
environment. Nature forces are independent from human actions. Life and Rapa Nui continued existing once humans destroyed themselves, as professed the evolutionist Stephen Jay Gould. The environment, for its part, is the outcome of an intrinsic relation between humans and surroundings. Our decisions end up affecting, for better or worse, our lives. Humans do not have control over nature, only over the environment. As Diamond said, Rapa Nui civilization collapsed because there was a great environmental - not natural - disequilibrium.

Finally, these two documentaries showed me once again the importance of organizations like Surfrider Foundation in raising awareness and building a prosper future by mobilizing communities to positively act towards environmental issues and by creating empirical narratives that inspire next generations. Change is grassroots: We plant, water every day, for our grandchildren to reap and taste sweet fruit tomorrow.