Dialoging With Nature: An Intersectional Śākta Approach to the Work of Remembering

Authors

Abstract

This dissertation presents the methodology and an illustration of practical application for a “dialogue with Nature.” Dialogue as it is used here refers to an interchange of expression that can take linguistic as well as aesthetic and sensory forms, as “Nature” in this dialogue is both the more-than-human world as well as humanity, comprising all life on Earth as well as the planet itself, and in the Hindu Sakta sense wherein Nature is the embodied manifestation of Mahadevi, the Great Goddess. In its methodology, this dialogical structure confronts the patterns of disconnection at the heart of the eco-crisis, most of all those associated with capitalism and imperial coloniality, in order to re-imagine the concept of dialogue that accomplishes two goals, one recollective and one critical. As recollection, the dialogical exchange between myself as interlocutor and Nature as dialogue partner is about gaining the experience necessary to remember what it means to live in a balanced, interconnected way that supports the equitable flourishing of all life. As critical, this dialogue, in both method and application, seeks to upturn the paradigms creating and perpetuating the eco-crisis. Further, by working from within the lifeworld of the interlocutor, a novel way of dialoging emerges that complements decolonial work through the application of neuroqueering, which creates space for the inclusion of the neurodivergent and Autistic experience, and aesthetics which provide the tasks and structures of a communication occurring on the subtle, sensory level. This work, referred to as the work of remembering, ultimately pursues the goal of “becoming kin,” as defined by Patty Krawec, or to remember one’s role in the interconnected web of life that is our planet while simultaneously deconstructing patterns of thinking and behavior that undergird the eco-crisis.

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