ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses parallels and overlaps between slam poetry and political ecology, both of which are effectively “communities of practice.” The authors suggest that slam poetry, with its egalitarian ethos and attention to issues of social justice, can help enliven political ecology by rooting to visceral and emotive registers. This chapter brings the reader to the Colorado River Basin, a landscape imbued with elements common in political ecological narratives: development visions, water, power, and earth. Through a poem and accompanying discussion, the authors demonstrate how slam poetry can enhance political ecology’s dual projects of deconstructionist critique (“the hatchet”) and the envisioning of alternative futures (“the seed”). Slam poetry helps communities experience social and environmental injustices collectively, encouraging people to work together to generate the hope needed to change the world. Allying political ecology and slam poetry could help to catalyze social change in three ways: 1) by challenging normative protocols of social-environmental thinking, 2) by building communities that equitably redistribute knowledge-making power, and 3) by reworking language and form in ways that ground experiences with social and environmental injustices while helping us envision more just futures.
