Narratives of Conflict and Resilience: Understanding Structural Violence in an Arctic Community Facing Climate Change

Abstract:

As the climate is dramatically changing in the Arctic, local communities are both struggling and adapting to practical problems presented by coastal flooding and increasing food insecurity, for example. While science-based solutions may support local strategies and decision-making to address concrete problems, science can also miss or obscure the presence of structural violence that is derived from patterns of colonialism and institutionalized marginalization, perpetuating intra and intergroup conflicts that reduce resilience. This study examines the stories of conflict and resilience in an Alaskan Arctic community that is impacted by climate change to explore the way that power and privilege are portrayed. Using “root narrative” analysis (Simmons, 2020), I analyze the way that people characterize the problems/conflicts they face, where they locate the power to address these problems, and whether they narrate themselves as able to make a difference or positively impact the problem. These root narratives provide the underlying grammar for agency and action in communities and are thus foundational to any effort to develop science-based solutions to climate change problems.