Dismantling Supremacy Culture:
Healing Ourselves and the Planet
Synopsis
What do systemic racism and climate change have in common? Dismantling Supremacy Culture argues that they share a root: the beliefs, values, and colonial legacies that have made the exploitation of people of color and of the natural world seem not only permissible but rational. The book examines ten characteristics of that culture — hierarchy, greed, power hoarding, gatekeeping, individualism, urgency, perfectionism, right to comfort, fear, and denial and defensiveness — and shows how each operates at the personal, institutional, and ecological levels to produce and sustain systems of oppression.
Drawing on personal experience, historical evidence, and interviews with environmental professionals and activists, the book demonstrates how supremacy culture gave rise to the climate crisis and continues to obstruct our efforts to address it. It then turns to Buddhism, Indigenous ecological thought, and racial equity principles as alternative frameworks and as strategies for healing. Its conclusion is that dismantling supremacy culture is not only how we combat racism and climate change — it is how we heal ourselves in the process. The book calls for deep accountability without blame, and points toward restitution and hope.
Complete at approximately 65,000 words, Dismantling Supremacy Culture is a moving and deeply researched work of cultural criticism.
About the Author
Clara Fang, Ph.D. is the founder of Green Tara Consulting and research scholar at Antioch University New England. She has worked in the fields of racial equity, climate policy advocacy, and sustainability management for over twenty-five years. She is the author of Centering Equity in Climate Resilience Planning & Action (2022) published by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and To Change Everything We Need Everyone: Belonging, Equity, and Diversity in the Climate Movement (2023). Her poetry has appeared in Tupelo Quarterly, Painted Bride Quarerly, Poet Lore, Terrain, Adirondack Review, and been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She holds a Ph.D. in environmental studies from Antioch University, a Master of Environmental Management from Yale University, an MFA in creative writing from University of Utah, and B.A. from Smith College. She was born in Shanghai, China and currently lives in Maryland near Washington DC.
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