Language, environment and ecolinguistic vitalities in Hemshin

Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Rize and Artvin, Turkey between 2021 and 2022, this article examines how Hemshin people living in Turkey respond to the sociolinguistic and environmental transformations on Hemshin lands after decades of Turkish nationalism and more recent investment projects such as hydropower plants and major roads. Through the analysis of written texts – such as news reports – and recordings of in‐depth interviews, this article shows how the Hemshin people foreground their intimate connections with their lands, recruiting cultural and linguistic resources which encapsulate narratives of place and place names. In the process, past relations with the Hemshin people's environment, language and traditional practices are repurposed, recontextualized and revalued, opening new possibilities for survival. Through the mobilization of cultural and linguistic resources, Hemshin environmentalism, fosters ‘ecolinguistic vitalities’ as a form of resistance against both environmental destruction and assimilationist pressures.