Rage against the Port City: Southern theologies mobilising for climate justice
| Published date | 01 May 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/02633957221124889 |
| Author | Anupama M Ranawana |
| Date | 01 May 2023 |
https://doi.org/10.1177/02633957221124889
Politics
2023, Vol. 43(2) 236 –249
© The Author(s) 2022
Article reuse guidelines:
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DOI: 10.1177/02633957221124889
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Rage against the Port City:
Southern theologies
mobilising for climate justice
Anupama M Ranawana
University of St Andrews, UK
Abstract
In the years following the physical end to the civil war in Sri Lanka, the island was beset with a series
of infrastructure projects. One of these was the ‘Port City’, a project funded by the Government
of China. The project has raised significant environmental concerns, from the detrimental impact
of rock extraction on biodiversity and marine life, to the effect on the livelihoods of the fishing
community due to the depletion of fish as a result of the mining of sand from the sea bottom.
Visibly present in the protest action against this are religious actors, especially habited Roman
Catholic nuns. This article, as part of an ongoing project that looks at environmentalism in faith-
based communities, examines the impetus that drives such visibly religious persons to take part
in direct action. The article does this to note how theologies that are ‘on and of the ground’,
that is anti-colonial theological framings are central to the political theologies driving concerns
regarding environmental justice. In doing this, the article is also arguing for a more central place
for International Relations and Politics to be studying and engaging with anti-colonial theological
voices, what I call theologies of ‘rage’.
Keywords
ecological justice, global south, religion, theology
Received: 24th November 2021; Revised version received: 30th June 2022; Accepted: 5th July 2022
The world is dying. The almost-corpse watches us, haunts us, and ravages us without pity.
In Kerala, severe flash floods and landslides have taken innumerable lives. In Fiji,
cyclones have torn through the northern islands displacing thousands. In Beijing, a sand-
storm turned the sky orange as dust. A drought in Madagascar in 2020 triggered a large-
scale humanitarian crisis. Sophia Chirongoma (2020), reflecting on the impact of Cyclone
Idai in Chimanimani, asks the question, how did water, that was once the source of life,
now become the source of death? The death began in the Global South, and it is also in
the Global South that for many years, different voices have argued against the
Corresponding author:
Anupama M Ranawana, University of St Andrews, St Andrews KY16 9JU, UK.
Email: ar357@st-andrews.ac.uk
1124889POL0010.1177/02633957221124889PoliticsRanawana
research-article2022
Special Issue: Race & Climate Change
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