b'THE REST OF US STORIESin Englishness and fosters a language of hostility as was evident when the Ranger spoke about a plant called Evening Primrose that was referred to as an evasive species and was undesirable due to its non-nativeness. Native species are more valuable. I agree with Fentons comparison of this dislike of alien species being similar to racial discrimination in wanting to preserve the culture and genetic integrity of ones own stock (in Agyeman 1990: 232). Agyeman and Spooner suggest that this association with racist discourseacts as a barrier to involvement in the countryside (1997: 200).MuchlikeattitudestowardsPOCintheUK,alienspeciesare welcomed in strictly defined areas but not allowed to pollute the native culture (Agyeman 1990: 232). These strictly defined areas can be read as cities, in the UK for example, London and Birmingham are seen as multicultural areas vs. rural Devon which is predominantly white. The image of nature in the BritishBibliographylandscape is thus one of whiteness and hostility. POC are ostracised from being inAgyeman, J. (1990) Black people in a white nature, due to economic and cultural barriers (Agyeman 1990: 232) and deprivedlandscape: Social and environmental justice, Built Environment, vol. 16, no. 3, ofthesameconnectionwithnaturethatgroundsenvironmentalistthinking.pp. 232-236Romanticism was a reaction to industrialisation and urbanisation - a call to goAgyeman, J. and Spooner, R. (1997) back to nature - meanwhile POC are confined to the very urban spaces whichEthnicity and the Rural Environment in Cloke, P. and Little, J. (ed) Contested are criticised. Indirectly asserting that POC are the problem, causing furtherCountryside Cultures: Otherness, Marginalisation, and Rurality, London: disenfranchisement. Moreover, the idea that humans have ruined nature erasesRoutledge, pp. 197-218the work of Indigenous folk who have lived alongside nature in harmony (Heise Daboo, J. (2019) Where are you from? 2016: 7). Instead, white is seen as the superior race that can save the environment.Performing IntegrAsian, lecture given at the University of Exeter, Queens, LT1, Binary oppositions are used to further this notion of superiority: white vs. black;9th Mayeducated vs. uneducated; civilised vs. uncivilised; pure vs. polluted. Exploring this DeLuca, K. and Demo, A. (2001) Imagining idea of puritywhich is deeply founded in white supremacy - and relating it toNature and Erasing Class and Race: Carleton Watkins, John Muir, and the rural areas vs. the pollution of urban industry that sees cities as aligned withConstruction of Wilderness, Environmental racial degeneration (Agyeman and Spooner 1997: 200). Thus, we can begin toHistory, vol. 6, no. 4 [online] https://www.jstor.org/stable/3985254?seq=1&cid=pdf-examine the inherent racism in environmentalism. reference#references_tab_contents Not only is being in nature a privilege that comes with being white but so[25/12/2019]is talking about nature and engaging with environmental activity, as the superiorErdmans, M. P. (2007) The Personal Is Political, but Is It Academic?, Journal and more capable race (and class). Finney states that the environmental movementof American Ethnic History, vol. 26, no. 4 [online] https://www.jstor.org/continues to be defined from a white, middle class perspective (2014: 26). XRstable/40543197 [24/12/2019z]has been criticised for this very reason. One example is the way that protesters Finney 2014, C. (2014) Black Faces, conceptualise the police and the state, and being arrested, meaning that it isWhite Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to their white privilege that they can trust that the system will be on their side andthe Great Outdoors, North Carolina not send them to prison, or at least not for very long (in Gayle 2019); meanwhile,Scholarship [Online] https://northcarolina.universitypressscholarship.black people live in constant fear of the police. Drawing from my own experience,com/view/10.5149/northcarolina/9781469614489.001.0001/I remember the first time I interacted with XR at Exeter Respect Festival 2019. Iupso-9781469614489 [16/12 2019]was excited to have one day, in this whitewashed city, that celebrates diversity. It Gayle 2019, Does Extinction Rebellion was a perfect summers day in the park, full of colourful stalls for various causes.have a race problem?, https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/Having heard a lot about XR, I was interested to find out how I could be involved.oct/04/extinction-rebellion-race-climate-Instead, I was met with disappointment and a deep-seated feeling of unbelonging.crisis-inequalityThe white lady at the stall insisted on repeatedly asking me where I was from. SheHeise, U. (2016) Introduction: From the End of Nature to the Beginning of the finally stopped when I gave in and said: well my parents are from India. ThisAnthropocene in Imagining Extinction: kind of interrogation is a classic microaggression (Daboo 2019) often experiencedThe Cultural Meanings of Endangered by POC in places like UK where Britishness is equated with whiteness. It doesntSpecies. Chicago: Chicago University Press. Oosthoek, K. Jan (2015) Romanticism make sense for me - a brown person - to naturally be here. Like the Eveningand nature, Environmental History Primrose plant in Dawlish Warren, I do not belong. Resources, Available at: https://www.eh-resources.org/romanticism-and-nature/ Tosummarise,myexperiencesmirrorthewidercontextthatisthe[22/12/2019]exclusionofPOCfromenvironmentalismasaresultoftheracialisationofPearce, M. (2019) The Representations of landscapes and assertion of white supremacy- informed by Romantic constructionsWildlife and Wilderness, lecture given at the University of Exeter, Thornlea, TS3, of nature which naturalise hostility and whiteness. 24th September , 9:00-12:00.Sonia Thakurdesai15'