Ahmed Badr & Ruth Miller: Narrative Sovereignty
This learning guide provides a brief overview of Narrative Sovereignty . It includes discussion questions to guide conversations and activities for students and learners of all ages.
Writing Team: Asia Frantz, Valeria Gutierrez, Shirley Chen, and Izzy Kaufman.
Understanding the Environmental Story & Issue
Narrative Sovereignty and Climate Action
Through stories we make connections to each other, to the world around us, and to worlds that may only exist in our imaginations. These stories come in many forms: poems beamed on the side of a skyscraper; songs sung across generations and languages; youth-curated chapbooks and moveable poetry displays.
There are many ways to tell and share stories, but the ability to do so–in our own ways, on our own terms–can be limited, constrained, and blocked. Due to historic inequities, untrue tellings of the past, and stereotypes, not all stories are told, celebrated, or honored to their fullest extent. In spite of this, the stories we share persist.
Narrative sovereignty speaks to the power and agency people have over their community histories, self representations, and modes of expression. Narrative sovereignty stems from indigenous thinking on the authority people have over their land and narratives. It is a concept which upholds the idea that communities should be able to share their own stories on their own terms. However, even when individuals have the chance to tell their own stories, they may be confronted with pre-existing assumptions about the nature and meaning of their experiences.
One such example is cultural tokenism. This is the way many indigenous and other historically marginalized communities have been inadequately included in spaces to share their perspectives. Often, when individuals are invited to speak on their experiences, they are expected to represent a collective which exists within a narrative based on stereotypes. Instead of having a space to share their complex histories, imaginations, and hopes for the future, these storytellers are asked to perform for an audience’s presumptions. This is why narrative sovereignty—and the pursuit of individual and collective agency—is vital.
This pursuit is especially urgent in the context of the climate crisis because the communities disproportionately affected by growing environmental problems are the same communities that have been systematically denied the ability and space to speak on a global scale about the complexities of their experiences. Narrative sovereignty is a key component of equitable, ethical, and effective responses to the consequences of a changing climate.
In the city of Syracuse, communities are already seeing disparities in the impacts of climate change due to various compounding factors such as racial, economic, and cultural identity. The experiences of the city, the region, and its diverse communities deserve to be shared to their fullest extent. This is done not only through the stories we choose to tell, but also the stories we choose to listen to, shared by those who have different histories and lived experiences.
This is why we tell stories. To connect to each other, and to connect to the world around us. To be reminded that even as we are individuals, we are never fighting alone. The agency that narrative sovereignty provides creates space for us to share and honor our individual and community stories. Through the work of storytellers and activists like Ahmed Badr and Ruth Łchavaya K’isen Miller, we are led towards more complex, vivid, and impactful narratives.
“I realized that by sharing my story, I was directly dispelling stereotypes and changing negative attitudes.”
Ahmed Badr on Narrative Sovereignty and Stories of Displacement
As an Iraqi-American and former refugee, Ahmed Badr knows first-hand the experience of displacement and the pressures that come with adapting to unfamiliar and sometimes hostile cultural, social, and political environments. As Badr grew up, he knew that his identity as a migrant and refugee shaped not only his own perspectives, but also the perspectives others had of him.
The very idea of a refugee is steeped in bias and preconceived ideas that can be inaccurate and harmful. Through a pursuit of narrative sovereignty, Badr found and began to create spaces to share his experiences in their complexity. He says, “I realized that by sharing my story, I was directly dispelling stereotypes and changing negative attitudes.”
Badr embraces many genres to tell his story: visual poems, collected stories, podcasts, public speaking, visual art, and more. His book, While the Earth Sleeps We Travel, is a collection of poetry, stories, and art from refugee youth across the world. The book is just one example of the work Badr does at the community level, as he wants to create infrastructure for other displaced youth to tell their own stories–on their own terms. This infrastructure not only provides a physical place for people to meet and share, but also contributes to the complexity of representations of refugee experience by proliferating the stories individuals and communities have to share.
In 2015, he founded Narratio to bring young people together to tell their own stories as leaders, stakeholders, and active members of their communities. Narratio is an organization and online platform that activates, supports, and highlights the creative expression of displaced young people through fellowships, workshops, publishing, and partnerships. In the summer of 2019, Narratio launched an annual storytelling and leadership Fellowship for resettled refugee youth in partnership with the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the MET).
Additionally, while this organization has impacted young people across the world, its influence can also be seen locally in Syracuse. Since 2019, Narratio has partnered with Syracuse University, the North Side Learning Center, and the MET to support a storytelling fellowship for resettled youth. Through the work of Badr and other young storytellers, there is now a legacy of narrative sovereignty being built in Central New York.
“Through my climate advocacy leadership, I have sought not just an artistic outlet for myself, but to connect and collaborate through artwork.”
Ruth Łchavaya K’isen Miller on Narrative and Indigenous Climate Action
Ruth Łchavaya K’isen Miller is a Dena'ina Athabaskan and Ashkenazi Jewish woman from Dgheyay Kaq, Alaska. As the daughter of two Indigenous Rights activists, she grew up with a knowledge of the injustices that were–and still are–impacting her and her people.
In response to these injustices, Miller uses her art to not only express herself but also to connect with others and bring attention to the self-told narratives of traditional Alaska Native lifeways. She says, “My current theme of work bridges performance and activism, challenging expected norms and bringing attention to the underrepresentation of Indigenous voices in decision-making and governance.”
Miller graduated from Brown University, receiving a BA in Development Studies with a focus on Indigenous resistance. She has worked many years towards climate justice and regenerative economies, including international advocacy, national policy leadership and local community roles. Miller has also served as Climate Justice Director for Native Movement for a number of years, and she is a founding member of the Fireweed Collective, a statewide alliance of politically-minded young Alaskans. She is now the Co-Director of the Smokehouse Collective, a food sovereignty and Land Back project to increase culturally informed mutual aid and build climate resiliency.
Miller deeply understands the power of narrative sovereignty as she has seen it suppressed in spaces which would benefit from its presence the most. In 2021, Miller was a guest and attendee of the COP26 cohort of youth climate activists where she and a myriad of leaders of underrepresented groups were invited, but not welcomed. Miller says, “It feels really deeply and profoundly lonely.” Even though individuals may be invited to speak on their experiences, their very presence may be tokenized and their identity reduced to a stereotype. However, the work Miller creates makes space for the complexity and entirety of the stories people have to share.
As an Indigenous artist and activist, Miller is just one individual advocating for narrative sovereignty while keeping indigenous culture and resistance at the forefront of her work. The direct correlation between Indigenous storytelling and environmental activism is not so much a correlation as it is a coexistence. A grappling with the non-stop environmental threats. Stories help surface the imagery that impacts action, and just in being told they become a live document of engagement. Syracuse is located on the ancestral lands of the Onondaga Nation. For centuries, the Nation has fought to defend, honor, and extend their own sovereignty of land and narrative. It is vital that we look to these stories to address climate change here and across the world.
Some Terms to Know
Narrative Sovereignty: The inherent right of a group or community to control and shape the narratives, stories, and representations about themselves, their histories, and their culture. It emphasizes their autonomy in defining and sharing their own stories, perspectives and experiences. SOURCE: Why it's important for Indigenous people to tell our own stories | CBC News
Linguistic Imperialism: A tool of colonization, meant to obliterate history and the visibility of the people who were displaced along with their languages. The replacement of a language of animacy with one of objectification of nature, which renders the beloved land as lifeless object, the forest as broad feet of timber. SOURCE: Orion Magazine - Speaking of Nature
Climate Displacement: Climate displacement entails the involuntary movement of people as a result of harsh changes in the climate or a sudden disaster. Climate change and disaster displacement | UNHCR
Climate Refugee: People who are involuntarily moved as a result of harsh changes in the climate or a sudden disaster. SOURCE: Environmental Refugee
Cultural Tokenism: The practice of doing something inclusionary (such as hiring a person who belongs to a minority group) only to prevent criticism and give the appearance that people are being treated fairly. SOURCE: What Is Tokenism, and Why Does It Matter in the Workplace?
Discussion Questions
Social media is widely used, so how can it be used to facilitate narrative sovereignty by spreading the stories people choose to share?
What do Ruth’s ideas tell us about the respect between indigenous populations and the environment? How can this be taught and implemented into a society with a less personal relationship with nature?
How do you believe linguistic imperialism may impact narrative sovereignty? Does narrative sovereignty work against the ways linguistic imperialism has affected how we speak about ourselves and our environment?
Climate change exacerbates pre-existing factors of migration, or in other words acts as a threat multiplier. Besides migration, in what ways does climate change exacerbate pre-existing threats, socially and economically speaking?
What are narratives that you know about your community? How accurate are they?
Activities & Prompts
Below are writing prompts and activities for learners of all ages.
Representation and Response
Badr wrote this poem after witnessing the stories told at the Youth4Climate summit in Milan. Though the poem is doing many things, at its core “Representation” is a response to the flattening of stories that occurs when individuals are expected to use their voice to tell the complicated story of an entire group. Badr uses questions to call upon the listener’s investment in the poem. He begins and ends the poem with reciprocal questions: “What do you hear?” and then “How do you respond?”. The questions call on the reader to participate with the poem, to “recognize the stakes of your presence.” To learn to tell your story wholly and without appealing to “the invincible” is a challenging task, and one that has immense consequences for the future of our world.
Connected Writing Prompt
Consider Badr’s final question: “How do you respond?” How would you tell your story? What stories have shaped your life? How does your own story work with or against these? Have you ever felt expected to represent an entire group of people? What do you think are the “stakes of your presence?” What are the consequences of a “single story”?
What story can you tell in reaction to those that celebrate the “stakes of your presence”? Possibly begin with looking around and recognize what these stakes are. How do you tell that story? Think to yourself how you respond to what you hear, and what it means to be more than a single story. If you want to go further, challenge yourself to consider what it means to exist as part of a collective, beyond an individual, while still being more than one story.
Battle Armor
Look through Ruth’s “Battle Armor” series on her website: Read her description of the portfolio, and scroll down to read the stories about each individual piece. Consider how the specific materials and techniques she uses add meaning to the final message. (CW: some pieces address sexual assault).
The “Battle Armor” series is a collection of traditionally-inspired wearable art pieces intended to bring attention to issues facing Indigenous peoples. Each piece tells a particular story: the consequences of oil development in the Alaskan Arctic; violence against Indigenous women; the restoration of salmon runs to traditional waterways; and climate advocacy against clear-cut logging in the Tongass National Forest.
In Ruth’s words, this collection showcases “the opportunity for art to become embodied performance - to communicate, educate, and evoke emotion.” She also says, “through my artwork my communities and ancestors speak through me.” By merging performance art and activism, these pieces serve as both protective “armor” in potentially hostile situations as well as narrative tools to uplift Indigenous voices and demands for climate action.
Connected Writing Prompt
Draw or describe your own “Battle Armor.”
How can an object or wearable artwork tell a story? Think about a story or a message that you think more people should be aware of. What wearable artwork could you make to tell that story to a wider audience? What materials would you use? What skills would be required? How would the materials and techniques relate to the story you’re telling? What situation(s) could you wear it in? How would wearing the piece help people understand your message?
Story Portraits
Look through Ruth’s Story Portraits portfolio on her website.
The “Story Portraits” series is a collection of portraits of Elders who have recently passed. Ruth draws their faces in detail as a way to honor and share their stories, capturing “each wrinkle as a testament to their enduring legacy.”
Think or write about how portraits can tell stories through the expressions and features of each individual’s face. How do their features and expressions, as well as the artistic mediums used by the artist, help you imagine how their experiences might have shaped them? Picture in your mind the face of someone that has made an impact on you. Think about their life, mannerisms, experiences, relationships, and what you learned from them.
Connected Writing Prompt
Draw or describe their face in as much detail as possible. Reflect on the drawing or description. How do their features reveal their narrative? How has this person’s narrative impacted you? What would you want other people to understand about their narrative? How has learning about their narrative allowed you to shape your own narrative?
Nature as Inspiration
Read and Discuss Badr’s Nakhal Poem
Badr’s poem “Nakhal” uses a date tree from his grandparents’ backyard as a metaphor for his home country of Iraq. The poem describes how the once-strong and resilient tree has suffered from imperialism and the loss of cultural legacies.
Connected Writing Prompt
Identify a natural object or feature that has personal significance to you. It can be something that you’ve been able to see change during your lifetime or something that you hope is preserved and remains unchanged. Many options work here; examples include: the neighbor’s overgrown backlot, that nature trail you walked regularly for years, the huge oak tree in the middle of the farmer’s field by your house, the meadow you drive past on the way to work, the overfished pond you used to fish on, or the old abandoned car at the end of the cul-de-sac slowly being digested by plants.
Think about the different forms of communication that would be effective in sharing the personal or cultural value of that natural feature with a person unfamiliar with its history. This is a person that might propose change that threatens the natural feature. What might you say first to convince them otherwise? Maybe you want to start with a story of a positive experience, or you may want to cite statistics and invite debate. What messages do you want to emphasize for their understanding?
Selected Additional Resources
Additional Resources
Whirlwind Woman (https://www.whirlwindwoman.com/)
Ruth Miller’s story and work.
Ahmed Badr’s story and work.
An organization that supports grassroots-led projects working to dismantle oppressive systems and support social and environmental justice, with an emphasis on the rights of Indigenous Peoples and Mother Earth.
A storytelling program that works to activate, support, and highlight the creative expression of young storytellers across the world.
Organizations
At Onondaga Earth Corps, we’re looking for people to join the team who are as excited as we are to fulfill our mission to empower youth to be active participants in creating positive change for their communities and the environment.
Climate Change Awareness & Action (CCAA) was formed for the purpose of educating others and actively working towards reversing the human caused climate disruption that threatens the earth. We are a local 350.org group, centered in Syracuse, New York. Our mission is to reduce the amount of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere through individual and community education and action while supporting fair and just public policies and legislation.
Grassroots organization of Central New Yorkers that recognizes and supports the sovereignty of the traditional government of the Onondaga Nation. A program of the Syracuse Peace Council, NOON supports the right of native peoples to reclaim land, and advocates for fair settlement of any claims which are filed.
Earth Guardians represents thousands of youth leaders, activists, and artists on the front lines, driving action and culture shift towards a more just and regenerative future. We train youth to be influential leaders in the intersections of environmental and climate justice. Using art, storytelling, on-the-ground projects, civic engagement, and legal action, we advance solutions addressing the critical issues we face as a global community.
Generation Green is an ecosystem that strives to foster an intergenerational network, community, and platform that fortifies the leadership of young people in the environmental liberation movement throughout the Global Black Diaspora. We envision a world where Black people are liberated through collective power building and collaborative ideation. This work connects a plethora of environmental and social justice movements that strive to reimagine a regenerative and abundant world.
Books
While the Earth Sleeps We Travel by Ahmed Badr
“A groundbreaking collection of poetry, personal narratives, and art from refugee youth around the world.”
We Are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstorm
Inspired by the many Indigenous-led movements across North America, We Are Water Protectors issues an urgent rallying cry to safeguard the Earth’s water from harm and corruption―a bold and lyrical picture book written by Carole Lindstrom and vibrantly illustrated by Michaela Goade.
How to Change Everything by Naomi Klein
Full of empowering stories of young leaders all over the world, this information-packed book from award-winning journalist and one of the foremost voices for climate justice, Naomi Klein, offers young readers a comprehensive look at the state of the climate today and how we got here, while also providing the tools they need to join this fight to protect and reshape the planet they will inherit.
A Bigger Picture: My Fight to Bring a New African Voice by Vanessa Nakate
Leading climate justice activist Vanessa Nakate brings her fierce, fearless spirit, new perspective, and superstar bona fides to the biggest issue of our time. In A Bigger Picture, her first book, she shares her story as a young Ugandan woman who sees that her community bears disproportionate consequences to the climate crisis. At the same time, she sees that activists from African nations and the global south are not being heard in the same way as activists from white nations are heard. Inspired by Sweden’s Greta Thunberg, in 2019 Nakate became Uganda’s first Fridays for Future protestor, awakening to her personal power and summoning within herself a commanding political voice.
Youth to Power: Your Voice and How to Use It by Jamie Margolin
In Youth to Power, Jamie presents the essential guide to changemaking, with advice on writing and pitching op-eds, organizing successful events and peaceful protests, time management as a student activist, utilizing social and traditional media to spread a message, and sustaining long-term action. She features interviews with prominent young activists including Tokata Iron Eyes of the #NoDAPL movement and Nupol Kiazolu of the #BlackLivesMatter movement, who give guidance on handling backlash, keeping your mental health a priority, and how to avoid getting taken advantage of.
Multimedia
/Resettled Hosted by Ahmed Badr | VPM
A podcast which aims to uncover the refugee resettlement process through the stories of those directly experiencing it. Launching on July 3rd, 2020, this six-part podcast series showcases stories of refugees as they adjust to their new lives in Virginia. The season consists of thematic episodes, each of hoping to bring the listener into the daily lives of refugees through field interviews (at home, work and school), personally-recorded audio diaries and reflective studio interviews.
“The Ajyal Podcast” with Rayan Kassem
It’s a podcast that highlights and explores the priorities, perspectives and expertise of youth leaders about nature, climate and justice within West Asia and the Middle East. It’s one of the (if not the) only podcasts focused on climate justice by West Asian youth. These perspectives are absolutely critical, yet often underheard in climate spaces, especially by the Global North. Episodes are both in English and Arabic, and cover topics including oil and gas in the Gulf region, Palestinian land rights, the fight of Indigenous communities in the Middle East for social and climate justice, and the impacts of militarization on climate movements.
The Power of Us: Confronting Our Climate Crisis | PBS
82-year-old retired Chicagoland engineer Jim Goodman and his wife Annie are alarmed about the climate change crisis, and know their generation has failed to adequately address it. With the environmental clock ticking, the Goodmans enlist the aid of some equally concerned young people, from those directly impacted by climate change’s disastrous impacts to those that are coming up with their own innovative solutions. The Power of Us underscores the urgency of the crisis and shows the power of an intergenerational climate movement, with youth leading the charge into the future.
Saving My Tomorrow | HBOMax, Google Play, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu
From the children who will inherit the planet comes a collection of songs, activism and heartfelt tips for protecting the earth. The show features conversations with scientists and kids about how wildlife is affected by a changing earth. Readings and performances by Tina Fey, Lennon & Maisy, Stephin Merritt, Liam Neeson, They Might Be Giants and Jeffrey Wright.
Greta Thuinberg: A Year to Change the World | Hulu, Youtube, Google Play, Amazon Prime
In Greta Thunberg: A Year to Change the World, cameras follow the climate activist as she embarks on a year-long tour to study climate change and educate the public. She and her dad travel around the world using environmentally-friendly transport like electric cars or sailboats instead of airplanes. During their travels, Thunberg visits stunningly beautiful natural landscapes impacted by climate change like Canada's Jasper National Park. In each location, she talks to a climate science expert, and helps viewers understand parts of the global warming puzzle. The documentary also shows some intimate behind-the-scenes moments of Greta and her dad. She talks about the tremendous amount of responsibility she feels, and how her work has forced her to put a lot of normal teenage life on hold. Thunberg also candidly talks about being in the public eye, and how being on the autism spectrum makes it difficult to be surrounded by so many people. By the end of her year-long travels, the Covid-19 pandemic has gripped the world, and she expresses frustration that the world hasn't united to face the climate disaster in a similar way.
No Denying It - UN Climate Action Podcast
No Denying It, is the UN climate action podcast, bringing you the voices of young climate change makers from across our warming planet. These activists, engineers, and entrepreneurs show us how we can make big changes - in our homes, our jobs, where we vote and pray, and with our family and friends.
Scholarly Articles
O’Brien, K., Selboe, E., & Hayward, B. M. (2018). Exploring youth activism on climate change: dutiful, disruptive, and dangerous dissent. Ecology and Society, 23(3). https://www.jstor.org/stable/26799169
Ruiz, Lorely M., "Youth Climate Change Activism: How Activism in Youth can be Encouraged to Help Combat Climate Change and Reduce Youth Health Impacts" (2022). Master's Projects and Capstones. 1444.
Eide, E., Kunelius, R. Voices of a generation the communicative power of youth activism. Climatic Change 169, 6 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-021-03211-z
These are a few of the organizations in the Syracuse area that have campaigns for positive social change that utilize the tactics of storytelling.
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