- Convenors:
-
Darcy Alexandra
(University of Bern)
Michaela Schäuble (University of Bern)
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- Format:
- Panel
- Sessions:
- Tuesday 7 March, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Short Abstract:
Circumventing the debilitating, apocalyptic 'Game Over' climate scenario, this panel examines nuanced engagements with waterways, landscapes and critters where people and other living beings are 'imagining otherwise.' Examples of multi-modal and interdisciplinary research are foregrounded.
Long Abstract:
To circumvent the debilitating, apocalyptic 'Game Over' climate scenario, scholars argue for the importance of developing nuanced engagements with sites and practices where people and other living beings are 'imagining otherwise' (Dillon 2012; Gumbs 2020; Povinelli 2016). These engagements can be found at the borders of extractive capitalism (Tsing 2015; Gomez-Barris 2017), and in trans-species relations of attention and care (Haraway 2016). In particular, this panel sets its sight on practices that take the future as a horizon of possibility and make ecological connections across social and natural sciences, humanities and the arts. We are particularly interested in practices of engagement by/with environmental scientists, citizen scientists, and/or community actors employing diverse technologies to restore wildlife corridors and revitalise threatened waterways and watersheds, for example. Given that human exceptionalism and the mono-perspectivism that it often engenders can produce inadequate knowledge practices, we do not limit the narratives and imaginaries of future scenarios to human actors alone; rather, we propose that landscape itself can be conceptualised as both a material archive of predatory exploitation and industrial debris as well as a protagonist, a character in this process. We invite presentations that examine regenerative environmental and cultural practices building from film, animation, poetry, drawing and graphic ethnography.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Tuesday 7 March, 2023, -Paper short abstract:
The Rhine in Vorarlberg is only a shadow of its former self, where more than human life barely appears. However, flooding is expected to intensify in the Anthropocene which pressures flood management to liberate the river. The resulting semiotic freedom will lead to crucial ecological enhancements.
Paper long abstract:
The eponymous river of the Rhine valley was constricted, controlled, and civilized through practices of colonizing nature. The watershed was incorporated into the built environment and morphed into a functional canal where “more-than-human” (Whatmore 2002; Tsing 2013) life and habitation are constrained. This current form is in fact a "materialization of social relations" (Tsing 2013; Anand 2017), that echoes the "dilemma of industrial society" (Hajer 1998).
However, the parameters of waterway management of the Internationale Rheinregulierung (IRR) are shifting in the face of increasing flood risks in the Anthropocene. The proposed restoration project 'Rhesi' draws on the knowledge of biologists and engineers to embrace the "natural force" (Hastrup 2014) of the river's vital matter. The inner dams will be broken up allowing the Rhine to meander and form small islands of gravel that provide the structures living organisms depend on and promise "semiotic freedom" (Eriksen 2022). This project is modeled in a local warehouse to capture the complex movements of water and convince affected critical local citizens. After all, for successful implementation, it is imperative to impart new flood management knowledge practices to the affected local residents. Thus, in the process of restoration, not only the river transforms but also local everyday knowledge.
In this paper, I contextualize the entanglements of the river as ever-unfolding hydrosocial becomings and illustrate that water is "knotting" (Ingold 2015) multiple and diverse meanings. I argue that waterscapes cannot be controlled, only corresponded with.
Paper short abstract:
In this paper, I share socio-cultural analysis from my PhD research to discuss the effect of uncertainty and temporality in relation to the Zayanderoud River.I focus on my sensory modality approaches to comprehend how individuals and groups interpret the Zayanderoud as a place, home and habitat.
Paper long abstract:
Zayanderoud, which literally means "The Life-giving River," is the largest river in the
center of Iran. It is the source of livelihood and the main factor of fertility in the city of
Isfahan. Flowing from the Zagros Mountains, it plays an important role in providing
drinking water, water for industrial and agricultural in-throughout the greater province of Isfahan.
The river has divided the city into western and eastern sectors, which are
connected through many historical bridges which have been built on along this the river such as Khaju Bridge, Si-o-se pol (33 Bridges), and Marnan Bridge, among and some others.
Since 2009 the river faces a life-threatening drought problem and has been dusted and replaced by dirt and stones.
Isfahan citizens consider the river as part of their identity and the city has taken its original identity from it the river as well as it is considered as part of the identity of the Isfahan citizens. The Zayanderoud River is a symbol of the living history in of Isfahan. This paper draws from my Ph.D. research, "A Sensory Ethnography in the
Life-giving River in Isfahan,Iran"that has involved observing, analyzing, and documenting the ways in which people interact with this body of water.
Paper short abstract:
Establishing and practicing a More-Than-Human Response-Ability in order to think with rivers and its companion species is the key to sustaining livable futures. The current conflicts in the Omo Valley showcase the main challenges and possible solutions to this task.
Paper long abstract:
"Water is always more than itself" (Ballestero 2019). Consequently, the future of healthy interspecies relations among rivers depends heavily on overcoming the singularity of water that is deeply implemented in capitalist and authoritarian state structures. Going beyond the narrow view of water as a natural resource by recognizing and implementing its sociality transcends the so called "modern water" (Linton 2014) ontology and contributes to restoring and strengthening the mutual relationship between the "companion species" (Haraway 2016) of a specific watershed. Instead of focusing on measurable units of water that can easily be embedded in market mechanisms in order to put rivers to work in the name of progress and growth the aim is to establish a way of being- and thinking-with rivers that entails a mutual attention and care among its human, non-human, and more-than-human companion species.
The hydrosocial network of the Omo River in southwestern Ethiopia is shaped by these two notions of relating to water. On the one hand the Omo valley is experiencing an ever-expanding industrialization in form of state-initiated infrastructure projects such as a cascade of dams for electricity generation and irrigation-based plantation agriculture. On the other hand (agro-)pastoral groups practice cattle herding, fishing, as well as flood-retreat and rainfed agriculture that are deeply bound to the flow of the Omo and therefore rely on the health of the river and its companion species. Designing livable futures in which practices of both water ontologies cooperatively intertwine is the urgent task at hand.