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Cultural Hybridity and The Environment Strategies To Celebrate Local and Indigenous Knowledge 1st Edition Kirsten Maclean
Cultural Hybridity and The Environment Strategies To Celebrate Local and Indigenous Knowledge 1st Edition Kirsten Maclean
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Cultural
Hybridity
and the
Environment
Strategies to celebrate local and
Indigenous knowledge
Cultural Hybridity and the Environment
Kirsten Maclean
Cultural Hybridity
and the Environment
Strategies to celebrate local
and Indigenous knowledge
Kirsten Maclean
CSIRO (Adaptive Social and Economic
Systems Program)
Dutton Park, Australia
Springer Science+Business Media Singapore Pte Ltd. is part of Springer Science+Business Media
(www.springer.com)
I dedicate this book to my wonderful family
who continue to provide me with endless
intellectual and emotional support. In no
particular order: the Hambleys – Tom,
Hannah and Happy; Anne Warren; and
the Macleans – Rupert, Michiko, Lisa,
Amie-Anne, Janelle, Joan and Donald.
Preface
vii
viii Preface
This is a book that everyone involved with environmental policy, planning and
politics needs to read and learn from. It is indispensable to anyone wanting to make
this planet a more sustainable and just place.
I wish to acknowledge Professors Richard Baker and Valerie Brown from the Fenner
School of Environment and Society, The Australian National University, for their
enthusiasm for this study. I thank the Fenner School for providing support during
the research study, in particular I am grateful for the creative direction of Mr. Clive
Hilliker and sincere thanks to Drs. Sue Feary, Stefan Kaufman, and David Eastburn;
also Mr. Charles Tambiah and Mrs. Bronwyn Battison. I also wish to acknowledge
Dr. Simon Naylor, The University of Glasgow, and Professor Marcus Power,
Durham University, for their involvement in early research discussions.
The case studies that bring the research alive reflect the passion, dedication and
energy of the many people involved in environmental management and community
development in Victoria and the Northern Territory, Australia. I am indebted to the
numerous people who spent time speaking of their personal experiences and show-
ing me their land and their country. In Victoria, members of local landcare, field
naturalist and environment groups, community facilitators and project officers from
the catchment management authority, researchers, government officers from the
then Department of Sustainability and Environment, the local shire council and
Parks Victoria as well as the Melbourne office of the Worldwide Fund for Nature
provided insight into the workings of the threatened species project. In particular I
wish to thank Ms. Jenni Thomas, Mr. Geoff Park and Ms. Julie Kirkwood for their
initial enthusiasm and ongoing support and interest in the research. In the Northern
Territory, the experiences shared by many Aboriginal people from the communities
of Willowra, Nyirippi, Yuendumu and Lajamanu form a fundamental part of the
research study as do those of pastoralists and conservation land managers from the
region and government officers based in Alice Springs.
Research affiliation and the associated financial support from the Desert
Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre greatly assisted the research work in the
Northern Territory. I am particularly grateful to Dr. Craig James, Dr. Glenn Edwards,
Dr. Alicia Boyle and Mrs. Ruth Brown for their assistance in galvanising the affili-
ation and ongoing support. Much of the fieldwork conducted in the Northern
Territory was generously facilitated by members of the then Desert Fire project, in
particular: Dr. Grant Allan, Mr. Richard Tuckwell, Ms. Kasia Gabrys, Mr. Angus
ix
x Acknowledgements
Duguid, Ms. Andrea Johnson and Mr. Chris Materne. I also acknowledge Mr. Jamie
Moore, Dr. Rachel Paltridge and Mr. Shane Brumby.
I acknowledge support from the Commonwealth Scientific Industrial and
Research Organisation (CSIRO) that enabled the final manuscript editorial. In par-
ticular I thank Dr. Rosemary Hill and Dr. Andrew Shephard and the Building
Resilient Australian Biodiversity Assets research theme.
Thank you to Professor Ritchie Howitt, Macquaire University; Dr Will Allen,
Landcare Research NZ; and Dr Karen Fisher, Auckland University, for reviews of
an earlier draft. I also acknowledge the editorial team at Springer Singapore for their
excellent support in the development of this book: Mr. Lawrence Liu, Ms. Jayanthie
Krishnan, Ms. Kanako Tanaka, Mr. Vishal Daryanomel and Ms. Chitra Sundarajan.
Contents
1 Introduction ............................................................................................. 1
1.1 A Framework for Cultural Hybridity ............................................. 2
1.2 Epistemological Tools .................................................................... 3
1.3 Empirical Case Studies Show Local Dimensions of the Wider
Complexities of ‘Ecologically Sustainable Development’............. 5
1.3.1 Empirical Case Studies ..................................................... 8
1.4 Book Structure ............................................................................... 10
References ................................................................................................. 10
xi
xii Contents
4 Political Landscapes................................................................................ 63
4.1 Regional Natural Resource Management in Australia ................... 64
4.2 Regionalism in Victoria and the Northern Territory....................... 68
4.3 Case Study 1: Threatened Species in the Landscape ..................... 71
4.4 Case Study 2: Fire in the Landscape .............................................. 72
4.5 Together, Let’s Give Our Land a Hand .......................................... 74
4.5.1 The Complexities of ‘Togetherness’................................. 74
4.5.2 Varieties of Regionalism................................................... 75
4.5.3 A Diversity of Hands for Natural Resource
Management in Australia .................................................. 78
4.5.4 The View from the Local .................................................. 81
4.6 Conclusion...................................................................................... 82
References ................................................................................................. 82
5 Cultural Landscapes ............................................................................... 85
5.1 Case Study Narratives .................................................................... 86
5.1.1 Case Study 1: Threatened Species Project, Victoria ......... 86
5.1.2 Case Study 2: Desert Fire, Northern Territory.................. 90
5.2 Historical Narratives ...................................................................... 93
5.3 Contemporary Realities.................................................................. 96
5.4 Difference and Diversity Across the Landscape ............................ 100
5.5 Embedded Powers Across the Landscape ...................................... 107
5.6 Conclusion...................................................................................... 108
References ................................................................................................. 108
xv
xvi Acronyms and Abbreviations
xvii
xviii List of Figures
xix
Chapter 1
Introduction
create the basis for social action (Harvey 1984). This geography is based upon the
fluid and entangled realities of knowledge, power, governance scale and nature. As
such it provides a way to open up the local spaces of environmental governance and
management, that is, the spaces of knowing and acting in the world that celebrate
diversity and as such provide a basis for social action.
In the following discussion, I briefly define these epistemological tools (these
tools are explored in more detail in Chap. 3). I engage with postcolonial (e.g. Said
1979; Guha and Spivak 1988; Bhabha 1994), political ecology (e.g. Bryant 1997,
2001; Peet and Watts 1996; Forsyth 2003; Biersack and Greenberg 2006) and
cultural and political geography (e.g. Sharp et al. 2000) literatures to conceive of
power as entangled. I delve into the history and philosophy of science (e.g. Latour
1987; Golinski 1998; Kendall and Wickham 1999) and cultural geography litera-
tures (e.g. Haraway 1991; Murdoch 1997a, b) to develop a critique of knowledge as
situated, tied to place, networked and associated across time and space. I use the
work of cultural and political geographers (e.g. McGuirk 1997; Swyngedouw 1997;
Howitt 1998, 2003) to conceive of governance scale as relational, networked and
associated across time and space. Finally, I critique western scientific constructions
of the so-called natural world to develop an understanding of nature as a social
construction.
When I refer to ‘local knowledge’, I speak first of the knowledge that is juxtaposed
with scientific knowledge and understood in relation to its connection to the place
where it evolved. As the book progresses, the complexity of this term is revealed
as I explore how knowledges of best practice environmental management move
between different governance arenas and different geographical places. All
knowledges are revealed to be in some sense local. The success of, for example,
specific threatened species management techniques depends upon how appropriate
these techniques are to the demands of different geographical places. The success
of such techniques also depends upon the interest and skills of local actors and
the extent to which local actors can adapt such techniques to local circumstances.
In Chap. 7 the notion of ‘place-based knowledge’ is proposed and used to refer to
local knowledge that is confined to knowledge of a specific geographical place.
When I refer to ‘knowledges of best practice environmental management’, I speak
of the complex sets of knowledge active at any environmental management and
community development interface. These knowledges that are explained visually in
Fig. 1.1 encompass the many different ways to govern and manage specific places.
When I refer to ‘knowledge networks’, I speak of the networks of individuals
located in various geographical places and governance arenas across the landscape.
I argue that what might be conceived of as a bounded and ordered environmental
management and community development project actually represents a point of
intersection of these networks that make up entangled and very local worlds.
When I refer to ‘environmental governance scale’, I speak of the various arenas,
international, national, regional and local where individuals, political institutions
and governments articulate best practice environmental management. I argue
that each of these arenas is located in specific geographical places. Accordingly,
environmental governance scale is enacted similarly at any one geographical place
1.3 Empirical Case Studies Show Local Dimensions of the Wider Complexities… 5
Fig. 1.1 Knowledge cultures in western decision-making systems. In this figure, the shapes of the
knowledge diagrams represent the different structures of these diverse knowledge systems. For
example, local knowledge is diverse and loosely connected; specialist knowledge is tightly specified
within the different frameworks; strategic knowledge is organised and directional; and holistic
knowledge is considered the core focus of decision-making systems (See Aslin and Brown 2004.
Source: Brown 2001a)
Thus, the research was grounded in the local and involves two-way research
relationships, transparency, mutual participation and evolving processes. This
qualitative approach assumes a dynamic and negotiated reality as opposed to more
positivist quantitative methods (Furze et al. 1996).
The two case studies that bring this research alive are located in the state of Victoria
in southeast Australia and the Northern Territory, located, as its name suggests, in
northern Australia (see Fig. 1.2). The case studies are located in specific geo-
graphical places and act as points of access into the localised knowledge networks
Fig. 1.2 Map of Australia showing the location of the two case study projects
1.3 Empirical Case Studies Show Local Dimensions of the Wider Complexities… 9