“The whisperings of roots”: Speculative futurism storytelling as research methodology
Fairy Creek Watershed (Ada’itsx), Vancouver Island, British Columbia. 2022. Awarded: John E. (Jack) Irving Prize
In reaction to the conflict surrounding the Fairy Creek (Ada’itsx) blockade and the larger conflict of resource extraction throughout Canada, a story of the future and past was created, told from the perspective of the forest and the internet, translated through the language of the nitrogen cycle. Drawing from the tenets of indigenous futurisms, relational accountability and in response to science fiction’s role in colonial discourse, this story intends to redirect trajectories surrounding technology and extraction to create space for empathy in a difficult present. To take oneself out of ‘reality’ and imagine this story as research and prophecy, building these worlds allow for the possibility they may happen. Doing so in a way that challenges your own worldview fosters empathy. This story was consciously crafted with key tenets from indigenous futurisms outlined by author and scholar Grace Dillon. These tenets revolve around ideas of time (referred to as Native Slipstream), contact (with a capital C) and technology. Time in this story has been collapsed the past, present and future melded into one. The cyclical translation of nitrogen and alternate rhythms of the trees all help to deconstruct our foundational ways in which we view the world. Contact with the ‘Other’ has always been an insidious theme in science fiction. Contact is understood instead as a meeting of equals, guided by curiosity and empathy. This is seen within the meeting consciousnesses of the forest network and the internet. This brings us to technology, which in itself is a loaded term. However as Ursula Le Guinn states, ‘technology is how you do things. A process.”
08. Conceptual field sketches of the old-growth forest were created to shift the mindset from one of resource to one of personhood of the trees.
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