Kelsey C. C. Doyle

Ecological Storytelling examines what role Indigenous-led participatory filmmaking can play in the revitalization of ecological knowledge and traditional governance in the Pacific Outer Islands of Yap, Micronesia. Yap Outer Island communities are navigating growing challenges—including youth migration, U.S. military expansion, and the spread of digital infrastructures—that disrupt intergenerational knowledge transmission and strain local governance systems. In response, community leaders including the incoming Paramount Chief Magul Jon B. Rulmal Jr., have called for strategies to sustain cultural knowledge and ecological continuity by embracing digital media as a tool to adapt. To answer their request, this research project is undertaken at the invitation of the community to understand how participatory filmmaking, grounded in decolonial and relational methodologies, can be both a documentation tool and a form of Indigenous sovereignty. In collaboration with youth and elders this community-led research project co-creates media pieces that document oral histories, naming traditions, and reef stewardship practices to upend colonial environmental conservation policies. These media pieces serve as intergenerational archives and forms of political presence rooted in Indigenous epistemologies.