Toying with Animism
How Learning to Play Might Help Us Get Serious About the Environment
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Abstract
Scholars increasingly stress that getting serious about the environment will require a shift from Abrahamic and naturalist imaginaries that distinguish between culture and nature to, variously, “ecospirituality,” “dark green religion,” or animism. The first part of this article critiques this work on the grounds that it reifies rigid distinctions between “belief systems” or “ontologies,” and thus misrepresents both what needs to be aimed at and how to get there. In search of an alternative, the next two parts of this article draw on autoethnographic findings with non-Indigenous people involved in resisting resource extraction. I suggest that playfulness is an important component both of the imaginaries to be found among resisters and of the means of arriving at those imaginaries.
Contributor Notes
Timothy Stacey explores the role of myths, rituals, magic, and traditions in social, economic, and environmental activism. He undertakes ethnographic research with a range of actors and, as well as developing theory, collaborates with researchers and practitioners both within and outside the academy to explore how their work can change minds and behaviors. At the time of writing, he is a Lecturer in Religion and Politics at Leiden University, the Netherlands, and a Visiting Professor at the Centre for Studies in Religion and Society, University of Victoria, Canada. He is also the co-convenor of AltVisions, a network of academics, activists, and artists exploring the alternative visions and epistemologies that can inspire people to collectively confront global challenges. Email: timothyjstacey@gmail.com