Torrential ontology: born out of typhoons – writing and performing collectively

ABSTRACT

In this provocation, the authors argue that nothing is rehearsed in dealing with climate disasters in the Philippines. People at the centre of climate disasters do not have time to rehearse; every enactment of resistance is improvisational from surviving climate emergencies. As theatre practitioners and poets of Sirang Theatre Ensemble, we conceptualise a theoretical intervention we call, torrential ontology that informs our ethics and politics in confronting climate justice. This ontology is informed by ancestral knowledge, rooted in social and political advocacies within a historical context, and shaped by our embodied and lived experiences with disasters, and other forms of turbulences.

KEYWORDS:

• Shared epistemology
• community-based-theatre
• Philippines
• Canada
• climate-justice

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank the people of Leyte and Samar Provinces and those who helped us in creating this essay. Dennis wishes to express his deep gratitude to the community members of Barangay San Pedro, Tubabao Island, Eastern Samar particularly the families of Mr. and Mrs. Robert and Erlinda Yodico.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).