Cultural Narratives in Environmental Activism

Sarah Sachar

Humanities Education Kampala International University Uganda

Email sarah.achar@studmc.kiu.ac.ug

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the role of cultural narratives in shaping environmental activism and influencing ecological policy. It examines how communities construct, resist, and reshape dominant environmental discourses through storytelling, historical reinterpretation, media representation, and protest. Drawing on case studies, historical trajectories, and diverse global perspectives, the research highlights how narratives rooted in local identity, spirituality, dispossession, and collective memory offer compelling alternatives to the master narrative of environmental decline. These cultural framings drive grassroots mobilization, challenge technocratic approaches, and center environmental justice for marginalized populations. By tracing the evolution of environmental storytelling from early preservationist discourse to digital-era climate justice campaigns, the paper underscores how narrative agency becomes a strategic and affective tool in the struggle for ecological sustainability, territorial sovereignty, and policy change. The findings call for a critical reassessment of the cultural foundations of environmental politics and a recognition of the power of narrative pluralism in fostering inclusive, impactful, and resilient environmental movements.

Keywords: Cultural narratives, Environmental activism, Environmental justice, Storytelling and protest, Climate change discourse, Indigenous ecological knowledge, Media representation.

CITE AS: Sarah Sachar (2025). Cultural Narratives in Environmental Activism. IDOSR JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION AND ENGLISH 10(1):8-14. https://doi.org/10.59298/IDOSR/JCE/101.814.20250000