Abstract
This dissertation, "Amazonian Transmedia: Seeking Epistemic and Ecological Justice in the Anthropocene," examines the struggles for multispecies justice within the Amazon. The Amazon, the world’s largest rainforest, remains divided among nine nation-states, subjected to extractivist pressures, and is now home to 30 million people. This rainforest faces increasing threats from extrctive industries like mining, oil, and agribusiness, whose expanding extractive frontiers exacerbate ecological destruction and infringe upon Indigenous rights. Amid these pressures, Indigenous communities, environmental activists, and transnational networks resist neoextractive forces through transmedia storytelling, employing literature, film, social media, and legal activism to advocate for ecological and epistemic justice. This sutdy focuses on three case studies that illustrate the diversity of threats and responses within Amazonia: the Yanomami people's resistance to gold mining in Brazil, the global and Indigenous media response to the Amazon forest fires in 2019, and the Sarayaku community's fight to protect their territory in Ecuador from oil extraction. These cases highlight how Indigenous communities assert sovereignty, amplify traditional ecological knowledge, and build global alliances to challenge dominant narratives and mitigate climate change. This project positions Amazonia as a critical site of ecological importance and epistemic resistance, where Indigenous knowledges and experiences intersect with digital media to influence environmental governance and explore sustainable futures. By analyzing the use of digital platforms and transmedia strategies, the research contributes to cultural studies, environmental humanities, and decolonial theory, demonstrating the transformative potential of Indigenous-led media in advocating for justice and the wellbeing of the rainforest and its multispecies communities.