Claremont Colleges Scholarship @ Claremont Pitzer Senior Theses Pitzer Student Scholarship 2017 Drowning in Rising Seas: Navigating Multiple Knowledge Systems and Responding to Climate Change in the Maldives Rachel Hannah Spiegel Pitzer College Recommended Citation Spiegel, Rachel Hannah, "Drowning in Rising Seas: Navigating Multiple Knowledge Systems and Responding to Climate Change in the Maldives" (2017). Pitzer Senior Theses. 76. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/pitzer_theses/76 This Open Access Senior Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Pitzer Student Scholarship at Scholarship @ Claremont. It has been accepted for inclusion in Pitzer Senior Theses by an authorized administrator of Scholarship @ Claremont. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Drowning in Rising Seas: Navigating Multiple Knowledge Systems and Responding to Climate Change in the Maldives Rachel H. Spiegel In partial fulfillment of a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Environmental Analysis and International/Intercultural Studies April 2017 Pitzer College, Claremont, California Readers: Professor Joseph Parker and Professor Susan Phillips DROWNING IN RISING SEAS 1 Image: Maldivian Cabinet member and Minister of Fisheries & Agriculture Dr. Ibrahim Didi signs a document calling on the world to address global climate change October, 2009 DROWNING IN RISING SEAS 2 ABSTRACT The threat of global climate change increasingly influences the actions of human society. As world leaders have negotiated adaptation strategies over the past couple of decades, a certain discourse has emerged that privileges Western conceptions of environmental degradation. I argue that this framing of climate change inhibits the successful implementation of adaptation strategies. This thesis focuses on a case study of the Maldives, an island nation deemed one of the most vulnerable locations to the impacts of rising sea levels. I apply a postcolonial theoretical framework to examine how differing knowledge systems can both complement and contradict one another. By analyzing government-enforced relocation policies in the Maldives, I find that points of contradiction between Western and indigenous environmental epistemologies can create opportunities to bridge the gap between isolated viewpoints and serve as moments to resist the dominant climate change discourse. Key Words: Climate Change, Discourse, Knowledge, Postcolonial, The Maldives DROWNING IN RISING SEAS 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The completion of this project could not have been possible without the tremendous education I have received from Pitzer College. I would like to thank each individual who has served as a mentor and friend throughout my undergraduate career. I would like to acknowledge the indigenous community of this place, the Tongva people, who have hosted me on their land for the past four years. I would like to thank my readers, Joe Parker and Susan Phillips, for their unceasing guidance throughout the entire thesis process. I would like to thank my academic advisors, Paul Faulstich and Lako Tongun, who have served as mentors during my time at Pitzer. I would also like to thank Professors Char Miller, Melinda Herrold-Menzies, Brinda Sarathy, Colin Robbins, Branwen Williams, and Arash Khazeni, who have all had a profound impact on my education and have shaped the way in which I conceive of the environment. I couldn’t have gotten through this process without the support and friendship of my thesis classmates. You are so intelligent and passionate, and I have learned so much from each of you over the past four months. Last, but certainly not least, I would like to thank my family. I am profoundly grateful for my older sister, Lauren, who has been and will always be my best friend. I would like to extend my gratitude to my parents for their endless support and love throughout my entire life. Your kindness, patience, and wisdom continues to inspire me. I am who I am today because of you. DROWNING IN RISING SEAS 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................................. 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ......................................................................................................................... 3 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................ 5 METHODOLOGY & THESIS STRUCTURE ....................................................................................................... 8 A Case Study of the Maldives ................................................................................................................. 9 DEFINING THE DOMINANT CLIMATE CHANGE DISCOURSE ........................................................................ 10 Climate Change as a Scientifically Defined Problem ........................................................................... 11 The Emergence of a Contentious Global Environmental Narrative ..................................................... 12 The Global Solution: The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ...................... 17 CHAPTER 1: METHODOLOGY: POSTCOLONIAL THEORY AND THE CLIMATE CHANGE DISCOURSE ........................................................................................................ 21 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................................... 21 SUBALTERNITY, AGENCY, RESISTANCE, AND POWER ............................................................................... 24 ESSENTIALISM ........................................................................................................................................... 30 KNOWLEDGE ............................................................................................................................................. 33 CITIZENSHIP, DETERRITORIALIZATION, AND STATELESSNESS ................................................................... 36 RESPONSIBILITY AND JUSTICE ................................................................................................................... 39 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................................. 42 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW: ACHIEVING CLIAMTE JUSTICE WITHIN A COLONIAL KNOWLEDGE HIERARCHY ........................................................................................... 43 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................................... 43 COLONIAL POWER DYNAMICS: A CONSIDERATION OF KNOWLEDGE AND AGENCY .................................. 44 Knowledge and Agency......................................................................................................................... 46 CITIZENSHIP, HUMAN RIGHTS, AND JUSTICE ............................................................................................. 51 Human Rights and Climate Justice ....................................................................................................... 54 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................................. 55 CHAPTER 3: UNDERSTANDING THE MALDIVES FROM MULTIPLE EPISTEMOLOGICAL FRAMEWORKS................................................................................................ 57 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................................... 57 BACKGROUND ........................................................................................................................................... 58 Political History ................................................................................................................................... 59 The Maldives and Climate Change ....................................................................................................... 61 NARRATIVES OF THE MALDIVES ................................................................................................................ 63 Colonial Knowledge: François Pyrard’s 17th Century Account of the Maldives ................................. 64 Local Knowledge: The Maldivian Oral Tradition ................................................................................ 70 Dhivehin Stories ................................................................................................................................... 72 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................................. 79 CHAPTER 4: CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION IN THE MALIVES IN THE CONTEXT OF MULTIPLE KNOWLEDGE SYSTEMS ................................................................................................. 81 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................................... 81 DIVERGENT CONCEPTIONS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ..................................................................................... 82 FORCED ADAPTATION: GOVERNMENT RELOCATION POLICIES .................................................................. 86 Adaptation Policy ................................................................................................................................