"Tell them": Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner and her poetry driven climate activism

Why this rising climate activist poet is making waves in international climate change discussions, and why its time we listen

Marshall Islander Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner has been making a name for herself in climate activism, with her powerful public speaking and artistic performances taking place at large international events. One such event was the UN Climate Summit of 2014, in which the Marshallese poet is said to have reduced world leaders to tears (Earth Company, 2017; Straß-Senol, 2021). Her spoken word poetry works to bridge the gap of climate change knowledge in public spheres, as Kathy argues that discourse is heavily embedded in policy and politics (Earth Company, 2020). Therefore, by using art as a communicative strategy, people can connect to the reality of climate driven environmental effects and awareness can be raised about the mounting threat to the Pacific Island region (Earth Company, 2020).

In her "Tell Them" poem, Kathy begins by describing her people and their heritage, but slowly moves to an emotive narration the imminent threat of sea level rise in the Marshall Islands. Ending on a poignant note, Kathy states that her people do not want to leave their land and that they are nothing without it. Here the concept of voluntary immobility is seen, in which the place attachment indigenous communities hold with their land is so significant that they refuse to leave even when facing high environmental risk (Farbotko and McMicheal, 2019). As seen with many Pacific Island nations, cultural identity lies within multi-generational homelands. As a result, when faced with rising sea levels many Islanders demonstrate strengthened cultural agency which they use to advocate for their nations in global settings (Farbotko, 2018); as seen with Kathy's activism. In efforts to mobilise the Marshallese youth and bolster the activist movement in the region, Kathy co-founded the non-profit Jo-Jikum (Earth Company, 2020; Jo-Jikum, 2019). By empowering indigenous youth there can be another generation to fight for climate justice of the Pacific Islands, and additionally avoid negative narratives of 'climate apocalypticism' and victimisation of indigenous groups (Straß-Senol, 2021). As these narratives exhibit the Islander communities as devoid of agency and requiring Western paternalism.

References:

Earth Company. (2017). Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner. Available at: https://www.earthcompany.info/ih17-kathy-2/ (Accessed 5 May 2021).

Earth Company. (2020). Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner speaks on the climate crisis and its threat to the fate of the Marshall Islands [Youtube]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nD7uonVego (Accessed 5 May 2021).

Farbotko, C. (2018). ‘Voluntary immobility: indigenous voices in the Pacific’, Forced migration review, (57), pp.81–83.

Farbotko, C. & McMichael, C. (2019). ‘Voluntary immobility and existential security in a changing climate in the Pacific’, Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 60(2), pp. 148-162.

Jo-Jikum. (2019). Jo-Jikum. Available at: https://jojikum.org (Accessed 5 May 2021).

Straß-Senol, H. (2021). 'Resisting climate change apocalypticism: environmental justice activism from the South Pacific', Seeing the Woods, 28 January [Online]. Available at: https://seeingthewoods.org/2021/01/28/resisting-climate-change-apocalypticism-environmental-justice-activism-from-the-south-pacific/ (Accessed: 1 May 2021).