Atomic Animals: The Hidden Face of the Sixth Mass Extinction

As petrocapitalism precipitates the sixth mass extinction, it is important to remember that this is not the first global ecocide. Under nuclear imperialism, the relationships between humans and archipelagic creatures were brutally shattered as fish and birds became irradiated. Close reading stories from Tahiti, Aotearoa, and Guåhan by Ra'i Chaze, Witi Ihimaera, and Craig Santos Perez, this chapter analyzes what new solidarities may be forged in times of multispecies societies' collapse. Drawing from Ma'ohi cosmogonic stories, the ancestral koru motif in Maori tattoo, and CHamoru mourning rituals, all three writers find strength and inspiration in transgenerational customary practices. This helps them better fight for the other-than-humans of the Pacific: while writing about the disappearance of endemic species, their style suggests the resilience of customary stories, visual motifs, and art forms honoring multispecies societies.