Description

Among the most productive ecosystems on earth, wetlands are also some of the most vulnerable. Australian Wetland Cultures argues for the cultural value of wetlands. Through a focus on swamps and their conservation, the volume makes a unique contribution to the growing interdisciplinary field of the environmental humanities.

The authors investigate the crucial role of swamps in Australian society through the idea of wetland cultures. The broad historical and cultural range of the book spans pre-settlement indigenous Australian cultures, nineteenth-century European colonization, and contemporary Australian engagements with wetland habitats.

The contributors situate the Australian emphasis in international cultural and ecological contexts. Case studies from Perth, Western Australia, provide practical examples of the conservation of wetlands as sites of interlinked natural and cultural heritage. The volume will appeal to readers with interests in anthropology, Australian studies, cultural studies, ecological science, environmental studies, and heritage protection.

Table of Contents

List of Figures

Acknowledgments

Credits



Pt IAustralian Wetland Cultures

The Swamp Nandi Chinna

Racecourse Lagoon, Uralla, New South Wales John C. Ryan



Ch 1 Introduction to Australian Wetland Humanities: Thinking About (and With) Swamps

John Charles Ryan and Li Chen



Ch 2 Rainbow Serpent Anthropology, or Rainbow Spirit Theology, or Swamp Serpent Sacrality and Marsh Monster Maternity?

Rod Giblett



Ch 3 Artist and Swamp: Wetlands in Australian Painting and Photography

Rod Giblett



Ch 4 Poet and Swamp: Wetlands in Australian Verse

John Charles Ryan



Ch 5Plant and Swamp: The Biocultural Histories of Five Australian Hydrophytes

John Charles Ryan



Pt IIWestern Australian Wetland Cultures



Beeliar Nandi Chinna



Three Wetland Poems by John Kinsella, Dedicated to J.P. Quinton

Poem for the Gathering

The Trees Along Bibra Lake

Resisting from Within the Green Tent at Bibra Drive, Beeliar (For James)



Ch 6 Environmental Activism and Wetlands Conservation in Western Australia

Philip Jennings



Ch 7 Where Fanny Balbuk Walked: Reenvisioning Perth’s Wetlands

John Charles Ryan, Danielle Brady, and Christopher Kueh



Ch 8 The Cultural Significance of Wetlands: Perth’s Lost Swamps to the Beeliar Wetlands

Danielle Brady and Jeffrey Murray



Ch 9 Swamp-philia and Paludal Heroism: The Passion of Wetland Conservationists in Australia and Elsewhere

John Charles Ryan and Li Chen


Power of Deluge Glen Phillips



Ch 10 Epilogue: Twenty-Five Years of Wetland Studies in the Humanities

Rod Giblett



About the Contributors

Product details

Published 31 Oct 2019
Format Ebook (Epub & Mobi)
Edition 1st
Extent 286
ISBN 9781498599955
Imprint Lexington Books
Illustrations 16 b/w photos
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Anthology Editor

John Charles Ryan

Anthology Editor

Li Chen

Contributor

Danielle Brady

Contributor

Li Chen

Contributor

Rod Giblett

Contributor

Philip Jennings

Contributor

Jeffrey Murray

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