Development, heroism and the indigenous life project

Abstract

In the American 1990s animation, Captain Planet and the Planeteers (Turner and Pyle 1990), the superhero Captain Planet does not exist on his own but has to be summonsed. The key message, reinforced at every turn, is that only by working together across cultural divides and for a unified purpose can people protect the planet and provide solutions to environmental problems. The spirit of the planet, Gaia, no longer able to passively tolerate earth's destruction, has given extraor? dinary powers in the form of five special rings to five young people from five major continents. From Africa, 'Kwame' has the power of earth; from North America, 'Wheeler' has the power of fire; 'Linka' from the Soviet Union, is given the power of wind; 'Gi' from South East Asia harnesses the power of water; and from South America, 'Ma-Ti' completes the elemental forces with the power of heart. To call forth Captain Planet, the five planeteers must hold their fists aloft and join their elemental rings, chanting 'all powers combined' in unison. While his grass-green hair and sky-blue skin are meant to elevate Captain Planet from any particular cultural alignment or ethnicity, his chiselled jaw, sharp pectoral lines and