Liboiron, M. 2021. Pollution is Colonialism. Duke University Press: Durham, NC. ISBN 9781478014133 (Paper). 216 p. US$25.95

Abstract

The mainstream scientific community has become increasingly aware of the power that Indigenous knowledge systems and sciences hold in addressing some of our most pressing global challenges. There is an awakening that science alone cannot solve societal problems, but the ways in which colonial approaches to science and our relationship with the planet have contributed to our current context are now under scrutiny. To that end, common questions that scientists trained in the dominant culture are asking include: What a Indigenous science? How should it be pursued? Why now? How have colonial approaches to science led us to our current state? What would a way forward look like?

The book Pollution is Colonialism by Dr. Max Liboiron (Metis) addresses many of these questions (and more) through the lens of anticolonial and feminist research approaches to plastics in the environment. For the broader aquatic science community, this book also offers a glimpse into how one might build research teams on ethical footing, implementing and committing to practices as allies in relation to Indigenous Peoples, as well as Lands and Waters. Structured in three chapters, the author takes the reader through the relationship between concepts that are often conflated—such as plastics and pollution, Western and colonial—and cleverly and succinctly explains nuance between them, taking time to teach the reader that they are not always or inherently bad. The first chapter Land, Nature, Resource, Property covers how plastics through the author's lens moves away from the environment and plastic as a resource but instead towards a set of relations. The second chapter Scale, Harm, Violence, Land takes a deeper dive into the science of plastics and the various approaches—including technical and relational—to illustrate the complex relations of plastics, reminding the reader how plastics are more than molecules in the environment but rather kin that have been reconstituted into monomers that cause harm at a range of scales. This chapter in particular makes clear how a more relational approach to studying plastics is needed. The final chapter An Anticolonial Pollution Science brings the threads together to operationalize a more ethical way forward, which together serves as the lab operating manual for Dr. Liboiron's Civic Laboratory for Environmental Action Research (CLEAR).

Moreover, the title of the book is catchy, provocative, and the truth. Dr. Liboiron writes with zest, humor, and authority. Reading it feels like you are in conversation with the author and yourself at the same time. It seems by design as they write the book effectively to demonstrate how scientific writing as a style must be reframed as a relationship and not a transaction. To accomplish this, they expertly manage an uncommon balance of engaging the reader with their thoughts but also the individuals cited and their relationships to science. Refreshingly, the citations are in themselves an anticolonial choice, using attribution, positionality, and respect for existing scholarship and contributors who have informed the author's work. Intentionally, there is almost an entire other book to be found in just the footnotes. The author traveled great lengths to identify the positionality of those they name and cite, and we follow suit here (not allowing settlers to remain unmarked or undescribed). This choice shows a juxtaposition with how science treats Indigenous scholars who are always asked to name their Indigenous roots, relations, and affiliations. This choice should offer another teaching and illustrate an important question about where obligations lie as scientists, the extent to which we should decenter our scholarship, but rather contextualize and honor relationships.

Both in form and substance, this book is an interesting, timely, and important read. It should, at the very least, be mandatory reading for aquatic scientists engaged in plastics, food web, and cognate disciplines. The book was released at a time when many societies globally were collectively grappling with the simultaneous impacts of colonization—from the COVID-19 pandemic, to the Black Lives Matter movement, to the horrendous “discovery” of residential school graves in Canada, to a crisis state of emergency for our planet. Many scientists, particularly those engaged in environmental fields, ought to read this, especially since conservation, toxicology, and sustainability disciplines are ultimately rooted in colonization. Plastics (and pollution) researchers especially will gain deeper insight into the biases and flaws of the scientific process and colonial context that led to the development of this research field; however, all scientists should consider reading this text. Dr. Liboiron connects dots in the constellation of aquatic science topics from theoretical principles, to applied practices, to the historical context of settler-Indigenous relations in ways that have not been seen in other publications.

Much like Dr. Liboiron, the authors position themselves in relation to this text and our own respective work. Febria (Filipina immigrant to Turtle Island/North America) and Reid (Nisg̱a'a and settler descent) are early-career researchers and faculty members who in recent years have launched our own teams and both hold Canada Research Chair positions in Freshwater Restoration Ecology and Indigenous Fisheries Science, respectively. This book resonated profoundly with us and our teams for different reasons. We are both bombarded with requests to “do” Indigenous science. Only one of us (Reid) can really, truly do that. The other (Febria) can and does leverage any/all privileges that come with doing science in an institution while also racialized. In reading and jointly reviewing this work, we have felt seen and validated in our commitment to upholding ethical research practices. Dr. Liboiron's writing, and the broader work of CLEAR, offers another star in a constellation of scientists doing their work in a good way. They validated and elevated community review as essential to and on the same level as the academic peer-review process. We aligned in the experience of hardship pursuing research in colonial settings, sitting in the tension of different worldviews and value systems. We both have navigated this uneven landscape without the privilege of choice to ignore the rights and responsibilities to Indigenous Peoples, Lands and Waters. This book was one of the few that sat in that tension with us, unpacked challenging themes while also honoring local, place-based relations.

Building on other essential readings—Decolonization is not a Metaphor (Tuck and Yang 2021), Research is Ceremony (Wilson 2008) and now, Pollution is Colonialism (Liboiron 2021)—the aquatic science community has been gifted with an essential text. We hope the reader is left pondering how research and science can indeed be a force for change, good, peace, and possibly—if pursued intentionally—reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples, Lands and Waters. A transition to a more just science system will take time, and we accept that in doing our own work, we may disappoint or fall short, but we are committed to the journey and labor required to right our relations because the planet, Mother Earth, needs us now. Receive this book as the gift that it is and let us move forward together. Haagwil huwilin (Nisga'a for work carefully, take your time).