The Need for a Black Feminist Climate Justice

Abstract

This essay makes the case for an approach to climate justice grounded in Black feminist thought. I outline one such approach by adopting the analytic and method of Black feminist hauntology. One of my aims is to depart from the erasure of Black womxn in climate discourse and strategy, as marked either by vulnerability, abjection, and the inevitability of dispossession and death, or by astounding “resilience” in the face of repeated devastation, violence, and abandonment (Baker 2019; Sharpe 2013).1 Although there is much to be done in terms of registering differential impacts or racist violence against Black womxn, I want to center (and make the case for centering) Black feminist thought as a crucial way to reimagine climate justice. In this aspiration, I am guided by Hortense Spillers’ self-described labor. In Spillers’ words: I saw . . . black people being treated as a kind of raw material. That the history of black people was something you could use as a note of inspiration but it was never anything that had anything to do with you—you could never use it to explain something in theoretical terms . . . so my idea was to try to generate a discourse, or a vocabulary that would not just make it desirable, but would necessitate that black women be in the conversation. (Spillers et al. 2007, 300)In this respect I am informed by foundational work that has shown the impact of Black feminist thought for disciplines such as geography, geology, and philosophy (Jackson 2020; McKittrick 2006; Yussof 2018; Weheliye 2014). My focus and target, however, is that of climate justice, which is both a philosophically rich terrain and one that day by day reveals itself to be crushingly and immediately important for all.Developing the ecological dimensions of Black feminist hauntology, I consider its implications for debates around the intergenerational nature of climate change, while foregrounding its vexed affinities with recent work in eco-deconstruction that treats the hauntological dimensions of climate change and justice. I make my case here by responding to Matthias Fritsch's argument in Taking Turns with the Earth, that overcoming the assumptions that tend to limit philosophical and policy approaches to climate ethics and justice requires a “reconceptualization of humans as generational-terrestrial beings, as well as of intergenerational relations themselves” (Fritsch 2018, 6). My argument is (1) that addressing the problematic assumptions of climate justice requires countering the widespread erasure of Black womxn and of Black and decolonial feminist concerns and interests, within eco-deconstruction as well as climate ethics and justice more generally, and (2) that Black feminist hauntological thought harbors important tools and insights for these tasks, such that it offers the basis for a transformative vision of climate justice that is always already transgenerational and ecological.2 In my account, Black feminist hauntology combines a profound rethinking of relations with the earth with a distinctive spectral ontology, and it does so by thinking from a specific positionality and history, namely, Black womxn in slavery and its afterlives.This essay is not an exhaustive or conclusive account of Black feminist thinking on climate justice. I acknowledge the internal heterogeneity of Black feminist and womanist thought, as well as decolonial and Native feminisms that grapple with anti-Blackness, and the difference of emphases that mark each of them. Pulling from all of these, I adopt a narrow focus on what Viviane Saleh-Hanna calls “Black feminist hauntology,” as analytic and method. The vision of Black feminist climate justice that I work toward here insists on the need to grapple with systemic violence and historic and collective accountability to weave futures that are not merely the repetition of the past, whilst foregrounding a distinctive set of ethical obligations and responsibilities that depart from the presentism and human exceptionalism of established framings of climate change. Attending to the distinct webs of ethical, political, and spiritual responsibilities and relations brings into view an otherwise occluded sense of what the harms and stakes of climate change, or the “anti-Black climate,” are through a Black feminist hauntological lens (Sharpe 2016). I suggest that the harm is less that of inequity, exclusion, or recognition. Rather, it is a matter of the disruption and incapacitation of fulfilling one's responsibilities (of care, honor, celebration, mourning, remembrance, survival) to all the community. The demand might shift then, from greater representation or inclusion in whitestream climate negotiations and policy, to the capability to uphold responsibilities on our own terms.The uncanny dynamics of haunting are manifest in global anthropogenic climate change. The forces set into play by the actions of the past and the present are unsated by arguments that evade culpability. The feigned innocence or ignorance of the presently living and future generations does nothing to the of and and the of the that the in much climate ethics and justice, debates to around such of and and to the of and that are as climate of philosophy as the and to intergenerational justice and climate ethics has to the of a of an as and with it an or of global anthropogenic climate change reveals the of the the past, and the on the present and presently living the of the spectral as it of and is not in itself Rather, our global its and to its of the of and of is to these and that with the of is for a to the of in the history of This requires that is living present . . . does not to ontology, to the discourse on the of beings, or to the of or requires . . . hauntology. this to be and of all to it makes ontology, or is and ethical and political, or as it it is the of anything ethics and makes it to the of the or of and as through relations to past, through the and of and to an always past and This of hauntology is what to of justice as of the present and the and of and In with the in of justice, hauntology that it is to of the to the and with from the that or and and just that does not in its the respect for are or for are not presently are already or not is an of justice that is with philosophy and hauntology from the of global that are the of climate justice. hauntology is it to the foundational of debates in climate justice and to to an In Taking Turns with the Earth, Matthias has a of these and to debates that focus on the intergenerational nature of climate ethics and justice. Fritsch's our here the philosophical of hauntology for climate justice, the and are and to that something is I that what is in an to eco-deconstruction to work with climate justice is by Black womxn and by Black feminist thought. I what this haunting makes and that it is an important that the case for the of a and of climate justice in Black feminist eco-deconstruction as an to the and of justice that has to debates around climate change in philosophy and that the by climate change as an intergenerational and and ethical its as is more to the that or of justice would not to (Fritsch 2018, In respect to the of the intergenerational of climate justice, it is on the that ethics was more or less to relations that do not to future as thinking and for are and to with its to ethical from from of the in intergenerational and climate justice from this and the of intergenerational and ethical relations as or as an of to this of as to of and ethics to that a both and of the of in human (Fritsch 2018, 6). of and to such a and of justice that calls and are grounded in (1) the of and (2) a or hauntology, and a rethinking of and ethics in that are by (1) and The that I outline by to Black feminist hauntology both and Fritsch's The hauntological relations that I in Black feminist thought and a “reconceptualization of humans as generational-terrestrial beings, as well as of intergenerational relations themselves” (Fritsch 2018, that I not and of the by and with climate justice, but the of what these on a of by a global Black feminist and decolonial with that of in of justice is the of from matter or and with from This has the that of justice focus on its such as the of justice as its requires and not an of as in the case of this a of established of justice for of the implications of Black feminist thought for what is as climate of justice that the to the and with while justice and justice to to the as on either or are to grapple with global and to of and systemic violence and toward a or the is by own or as feminist of justice such as from justice on the basis of the need to to and by a and that the as and are with the of of these of justice are with a would justice its it a for the of justice . . . that does not on the of the from and as global the profound implications of this requires an of the and of and in and both on the basis of and of global justice, as it is and on the dispossession of and The of this and and is through the of or the and The of the the in to the 2007, the of in never be in the terms of the of the ethical and to the and from the and of and in the and justice it for the of otherwise the and of and the of all its The of the of is by the of the of justice and the of difference this global of has as the against which the of as in to of the and the of philosophy through Black and is distinct is the that it has to as a way of and into on the one and on the and raw matter that be and as 2019; Yussof This is of are by the and that to as the of our present 2007, that the ethical, and of and and human and so foundational for of justice, are to a in and of as as the of the of through an of and with the of ethical and and to (Spillers does not that and violence are in the case of but that these are as that could be and and that 2016). In the and of the the and of Black womxn and in and not as human or as Attending to and in slavery and its is for the that Saleh-Hanna on of Black through which Black is and and the relations that the of global The implications of this (and the of and for and marked as as on and anti-Blackness, which it could not uphold the which and is Black feminist hauntology, Saleh-Hanna Black feminist thought the of of that justice . . . or the of all living within that which the living the of are not or are already does so from an in Black and decolonial feminist that in a past that and and by a that to the of and and are not through and climate but through the work of and what has as raw matter and 2020; and hauntology the of the the present and the but this is always ethical and political, already from of justice. The stakes and of hauntology in the of Fritsch's are foundational to Black feminist hauntology. Saleh-Hanna that Black is the of . . . justice has not and from and or into in that are to is a of and violence that in the present and is the of a and it to the and of the present the and with is and as it calls to to the present as it is through with the past, not as or but as of the that might be through in with the that our has and 2020; an Black feminist hauntology to the of and of and the it as to the of the of violence, or of of the of that is by to and to to the but to the and the and the to all forces and by that to that might and what otherwise to be and of violence and Saleh-Hanna on the of and what calls of as well as the of haunting to and justice, and the of the as a it to that history and make In Black feminist hauntology, however, the I is a Black is the and the of Black womxn and that which has not or in This a sense of Black as always already of the not and past, and in a specific positionality and of one that to the of and to Black feminist thought with and to Black feminist hauntology aims that is a of the and of justice from its narrow human and living within and of ethical and by the of and as it is by Saleh-Hanna and by the I with Black feminist hauntology is from (1) or through and to and (2) or the of of violence by what or as what calls global justice the basis of the of justice to with calls for and on a Black feminist justice. justice would a Black feminist that aims a of the of the of This does not on the foundational for but through or Although transformative justice manifest through that global and as such the of and of In a transformative of justice global justice as a that the of or what the it has This is the or of the through or of and of the in a with the living and the is as the of a in which Black womxn, and all for the and not I on to these and are grounded in a distinctive Black feminist spectral ontology, or to Taking Turns through this Black feminist hauntological on of in of as of that with the of that . . . (Fritsch 2018, This to the of that is by climate justice, such that be as of that is and Although there is an in the of the need to of such as and this to that the of justice are of in to does acknowledge and slavery the in in a of (Fritsch and and global climate change be the of is Black feminist that with and from is is a for global and for both human and on a 2018, Black feminist thought is for or of the and of the and the 2019; McKittrick Sharpe 2016). . . . . . . is the that the and its it is that the that make and and and ethical as in by the and by climate change, of ethical The black is the of the or that to Black feminist hauntology is to and depart from the problematic assumptions of climate justice. This is one crucial I that climate justice be in vision of transformative justice as always global and and the of Black are always already with global and the and of and ecological violence 2020; Saleh-Hanna Sharpe In to the of an and focus on a to be and and against the (and just I the of haunting and the work of Black feminist hauntology is by relations and for by the in the Black by as by the of the which the be and by The ethical and work of to these and to that never be but are of thought and is by Black feminist hauntology of Attending to this in on a be an the justice, into or of established of justice to with the of I that and of climate justice that aims not to the of our present with this a would not of justice as disciplines of history, are . . . by its slavery and climate justice as and to its the work of these in an to from of and to the of Black feminist hauntology for the intergenerational and of climate justice and that this of the and of justice is the an a spectral ontology, or hauntology, that does not intergenerational and relations as or but as of and I that this hauntology and the sense of transformative justice that from it the and and of justice that debates in philosophical and policy of climate change, as well as the of to and in violence of slavery in that to transgenerational and the of Black of and not by and and and violence, and and and of and on to and of a are all more recent of the and disruption of Black transgenerational and This is one in Black feminist thought, hauntological relations are so important and to the work of aspiration, that of in the Black (Sharpe is from the specific of and and that Black feminist thought has philosophically rich and distinctive approaches to intergenerational justice, history, and the of 2007, in its of the that is never a it is always a of the to ethics and Black feminist thought is well to grapple with our that of global anthropogenic climate account of own as a Black feminist an of this and positionality both to a from an of the and an to work through the of of important for Black feminist hauntology. The is a sense of and of the presently as always already and an account of the of the the and the not and of the present through with the past and the In words: is my . . . My is with 2018, is both to and not and and to while the that is as future to the not to and for these and what the present of violence, and are the of the transgenerational relations of the as care, and not as to them. in its to the that and Black feminist thought is as to and work through and ethical that I on to through a on are and a and of in is an that of and with an on and by history for is way the is for offers a of a that is our our and is a and of as and as and present the the these is the but in it is not it is it to has a and is to to it to and the implications of its it is important to note of dimensions of Black feminist hauntology that and the ethical and work that it calls is one way in which Black feminist hauntology the and that the and ethics of The of the of the spectral and the and of the be and in the case of but it is on a foundational in the more of such as and 2006; 2018; In the spectral and of being with the Black feminist hauntology is a of and to the and ethics that and with it framings of climate ethics and I suggest that it offers a way of the for climate ethics that with mourning, and and uncanny of the past, but in such a way that it does not into and of and of Black feminist hauntology the problematic that but in on to of and for of the in Taking Turns (Fritsch 2018, while on the of and of with and This one that a to Black feminist hauntology the view that or to and and ethics be in a past and a and that be by disciplines such as The and of is as it is the of within and to it in the living present are and Black feminist hauntology the of the and the kind of that from the of the living to them. that is in the idea that Black is the of not but with the in our 2018, that . . . the the living and by spiritual of that be in the against 2018, am the of that is by by the of a and that to Black womxn as and as haunting is to or 2007, 6). be as a of the by of and the inevitability of and its of and This through a of and the of and community. The past that is is both a and a of and and that a Black feminist account of and from this kind of of ethical and is to of the in and spiritual an of the as and as the weave of the living and the and forces are not from the or the of the are way of the of our with its as a of and as a way of and to be the of generations and distinct and by the and of and the of the and spiritual to the of Black this as a from of and this the as a on a through of and are and the and of community. the collective and of The of and of justice the as well as the present collective and future not otherwise all and not or presently here a to the profound difference of this and spiritual view of from the narrow of ethical and for the to of a that are as the of climate and of intergenerational and justice, as well as the of people in the of climate change. people are not in climate change and but are as to and the of climate change. One is the of the in the justice and informed by Black by Black as is the for and and the the of from climate policy, and on and The of the is to the on and the is a of on Earth, of the in the of and of in the climate and the global The has the of climate change but its for and of in has by as a and climate change there has that are This has on the as and of as well as for and The day a of around and of and in to on the of the and of the a Black feminist however, the to the is and into view the through a Black feminist what might its implications be for climate as and a of that be in that and to its and to in and the of and of our in the is a the of and change of are through the of the that through and that has and through and that as a to all a of in terms that the of the hauntological and such that of the and has and in from the that humans and need not be as in the the the and Sharpe and such as of and and the is as to human its in our and and has to the of in and human The of this transgenerational and hauntological for in the of and into the an to all past, and future in of that for as the of the otherwise past, the of the might be and as an of the that is a to something to be In with the that would such for its impact on and as of in terms of or a Black feminist climate justic

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