In this essay, Kyle P. Whyte, professor and environmental activist working at the Michigan State University (MSU) discusses how the Anthropocene period is sometimes described through dystopian or postapocalyptic narratives of climate crises that will leave humans in horrific science-fiction scenarios. Such narratives can erase Indigenous peoples' perspectives on the connections between climate change and colonial violence. In addressing this issue here, I will cover topics including climate justice, Indigenous philosophy, and allyship. The essay unfolds in three independent sections without a conclusion section. Though independent, the sections overlap with and refer to one another.

The first section, “Ancestral Dystopias and Climate Change Crises,” shows some of the ways in which Indigenous peoples challenge linear narratives of dreadful futures of climate destabilization with their own accounts of history that highlight the reality of constant change and emphasize colonialism's role in environmental change. The second section, “Indigenous Science (Fiction),” develops an account of Indigenous narrative-making using a conception of spiraling time that can be seen as living science fiction, and helps to explain certain aspects of Indigenous artistic production and Indigenous environmental conservation and environmental justice work. The third section, “Allies and Ancestral Fantasies,” is a critique of some of the ways in which scholars and advocates (i.e. allies) who seek to empower Indigenous peoples do so by denying their connections to the worlds many of their ancestors established today—worlds their ancestors would have fantasized about.

Whyte's work focuses on the problems and possibilities indigenous peoples face regarding climate change, environmental justice, and food sovereignty. Direct weblinks to his research interests can be found on his official webpage.