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Abstract
In this paper, Cassandra’s role in the ancient Greek myth of the fall of Troy, as one given the gift of prophesy but cursed to be disbelieved, is explored with a view to understanding the apparently powerless position of climate justice and environmental activism to change public policy. To make this case, we re-interpret the myth of Cassandra to imagine her as a different kind of person, and explore the ideas and stories of certain Teme Augama Anishinaabe Elders that we believe reflect a divergent ontos (being state) from that of the global, modern West. This being state is embedded in the natural world in a constantly reciprocal and dialogical way. We couple this with parallel arguments from recent theories around the human neuro-hemispheric divide relating to ontology and use both to explore how we might become the kinds of people that are capable of dealing with climate change: Cassandras of the second kind. Viewed methodologically, this paper is a cyclical philosophical investigation that, in part, makes use of hermeneutics and narrative inquiry to understand mythic Greek tales and the stories of Indigenous Elders. It also draws on literary traditions that employ allegory to explore meaning.
Notes
1 This term has in recent years been challenged by some as antiquated. The Elders whose thoughts are noted in this paper expressed preference for this term at the time of conversation.
2 Karen Barad’s intra-active is given as “the mutual constitution of entangled agencies” (Barad, Citation2007).
3 While we are positing another cosmology, writing about it within the framework of the accepted on poses problems. We prefer Barad’s terminology, and a Guattarian/Deleuzian implication of inseparability. But we are unable to find ways of speaking about beings that the global, modern West separates, without separately naming them.
4 There is another version of the myth, which this paper addresses in a later part. In it, Cassandra, as a result of being bitten, or licked, by a snake is given the ability to understand the language of animals.
5 La historia me absolvera [History will absolve me] is the defence given in 1953 by Fidel Castro against the charge of inssurection.
6 There are many theorists who have wandered a parallel pathway here and it behooves us to name a few such as Michael Bonnett, Phillip Payne, Vine Deloria, and recent work by Lesley Le Grange.
7 This is now in flux, specifically with movements around Greta Thunberg’s challenge.
8 Cassandra’s first action after receiving the gift of prophecy is to offend a god. Because she at this time had knowledge of the future, she must have foreseen its consequences.
9 This paper was first drafted in early 2019 and is currently being edited into early 2021.
10 Horse’s teeth are a good indicator of health and of age. Looking in the mouth of a horse that one has been given suggests that one may be doubting the value of the gift.
11 Alex Mathias is a Teme Augama Anishinaable Elder with whom Chris Beeman has worked since the early 2000’s. We acknowledge and give thanks for Alex’s insights, understandings, and friendship.
12 The poetic form of this passages reflects pauses in speech and non-traditional sentence breaks that are intrinsic to the kind of stories told by Alex. It was developed in Chris’s doctoral dissertation as a way of better communicating the rhythm and poetic aspects of these stories (Beeman, Citation2006).
13 Mary Carol was Alex’s partner for many years. Mary Carol was accepted as an Elder on Alex’s family territory by Alex, the traditional family head. Mary Carol passed on shortly after our conversation in the early 2000’s. We acknowledge and give thanks for her insights and understandings.
14 Jujum dakim (Chris Beeman’s transliteration) is etymologically linked to breast milk: world as nurturing mother; mother earth.
15 In Greek mythology, Apollo represents a position that according to McGilchrist’s schema would appear to be compatible with a left hemispheric mode.
16 Conatus is the tendency for a being to persist in its own being. Of the (Western) philosophers who used the term, Spinoza may be best known.