Turning Water into Wine, Beef and Vegetables: Material Transformations along the Brisbane River

The Brisbane River starts high in the Jimna Ranges in a network of small streams that are often no more than a thread of green in the dusty hills. By the time it reaches the Port of Brisbane, it has been captured, used and turned into many things: beef and vegetables, fruit and wine – things that can be bundled into containers and shipped to the trading partners on which Australia relies. This paper is concerned with the transformations through which ‘natural’ resources are acculturated and commodified, in the process becoming not only economic resources, but also material expressions of human agency and identity. As the most basic and most vital ingredient of all organic products, water can ‘become’ almost anything. It is therefore, like money, broadly perceived as an abstract symbol of wealth and power, defining the relationships between those who have access to and control of water, and the wider populations whose material needs they supply. In Queensland, as in other parts of Australia, there are growing political and economic tensions between rural communities and the enlarging urban populations who now compete for increasingly scarce water resources while also demanding that environmental health should not be sacrificed for economic gains. The implications of this shift have been severe: farmers who formerly enjoyed a primary social and economic position as ‘primary producers’ now feel beleaguered, undervalued, and resentful of the loss of control implied in newly competitive water allocation processes. A wider shift from farming into residential development or recreational use of land is also reframing Australia’s economic relationships with other countries, introducing new forms of ‘productivity’ and empowering different groups of people. This paper considers how these changing patterns of commodification are changing the social and cultural landscape along the Brisbane River

Water Management: Pragmatic and ethical issues for species-inclusive and sustainable water policies

The Leaders’ Pledge for Nature highlights the fact that since ecosystems underpin human well-being, we need to ‘recognize that the business case for biodiversity is compelling’. In this article we argue that, in all areas of water management, there is an urgent need for a paradigmatic and practical shift to species-inclusive and sustainable water policies and practices. We believe that policies prioritizing human interests inevitably promote unsustainable forms of water management and use. This article outlines an alternative vision based on the ‘Half-Earth’ (Wilson 2016) perspective, emerging from the ‘nature needs half’ or NNH movement. NNH researchers state that to maintain viable long-term populations of most of Earth's remaining species, approximately 50% of landscapes and seascapes need to be protected from intensive human economic use. However, while terrestrial conservation measures are prominent in the literature, a Half-Earth, of fresh and sea waterscapes is rarely discussed. Our article addresses this omission. We ask what species-inclusive policies and practices in marine and freshwater conservation would look like? If government policy-makers direct spending towards sustainable fishing, for example, how can this align with a focus on marine biodiversity? How can an ecocentric view tackle the illicit finance involved in illegal fishing? How do we marry up existing conservation policy, which is people-centric, with ecocentric 'nature positivity'? We reflect on possible implications for ecocentric water management and sustainable water policies and practices from examples of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) Sea Shepherd and Greenpeace. We also note the potential for Strang’s proposed ‘re-imagined communities’ approach to be applied to river catchment management, providing a conceptual model for rebalancing wider decision-making processes to include non-human needs and interests.&nbsp

Relaciones infraestructurales: agua, poder político y el surgimiento de un nuevo régimen despótico

Ya han pasado sesenta años desde que Karl Wittfogel destacara una relación clave entre el poder político y la propiedad y el control del agua. Estudios posteriores han sugerido, en un sentido acorde, que la exclusión de la propiedad de recursos esenciales representa una forma profunda de exclusión —una pérdida de participación democrática en la dirección societaria—. Varios campos de desarrollo teórico han clarificado estos temas. Algunos antropólogos han explorado la relación recursiva entre arreglos políticos y sistemas de creencia cosmológicos. Las definiciones estrechas de propiedad han sido cuestionadas al tomarse en consideración formas más diversas de propiedad y control de los recursos. Los análisis de la cultura material han mostrado cómo esta amplía la agencia humana, además de tener capacidades de agencia en sí misma; y exploraciones sobre infraestructuras han destacado su papel en la constitución de relaciones sociotécnicas y políticas. Tales aproximaciones son fácilmente aplicables al agua y a la cultura material a través de la cual es controlada y usada. A partir de una investigación histórica y etnográfica sobre el agua en Australia y el Reino Unido, este artículo traza las relaciones cambiantes a lo largo del tiempo entre creencias cosmológicas, infraestructura y arreglos políticos, y sugiere que la actual tendencia hacia la privatización transnacional de la propiedad del agua abre la puerta al surgimiento de nuevos “regímenes despóticos”

Representing Water

Este artigo baseia-se em pesquisa sobre representações visuais de seres aquáticos e sua capacidade de articular relacionamentos humano-ambientais. Seres aquáticos (como serpentes arco-íris e taniwhas) são relevantes em muitas cosmologias culturais diferentes, mais particularmente aquelas que se orientam no sentido de “religiões da natureza”, nas quais as paisagens terrestres e aquáticas são vistas como animadas por seres sensíveis. As análises destas imagens visuais, e suas transformações ao longo do tempo, sugerem que, como reflexo de crenças cosmológicas e valores, elas podem iluminar o passado e fornecer insights úteis para mudanças fundamentais nas relações humanas com a água. Como representações das visões de mundo de grupos particulares, elas também têm uma função vital nos debates contemporâneos sobre gestão ambiental, propriedade e controle dos recursos hídricos. Baseando-se em exemplos da Austrália e Nova Zelândia, este artigo considera, portanto, o papel das imagens como indicadores temporais de mudança e como representações simbólicas de cosmologias subalternas em sociedades pós-coloniais. Examina também as implicações potenciais da pesquisa para a teoria e o método em antropologia visual. Ao manter uma abordagem etnograficamente situada objetiva, demonstra que as transformações nas relações humanas com a água, expressas através de imagens visuais de seres aquáticos, continuam a dirigir os conflitos contemporâneos sobre a propriedade da água, sua gestão e utilização

Representing Water: visual anthropology and divergent trajectories in human environmental relations

Este artigo baseia-se em pesquisa sobre representações visuais de seres aquáticos e sua capacidade de articular relacionamentos humano-ambientais. Seres aquáticos (como serpentes arco-íris e taniwhas) são relevantes em muitas cosmologias culturais diferentes, mais particularmente aquelas que se orientam no sentido de “religiões da natureza”, nas quais as paisagens terrestres e aquáticas são vistas como animadas por seres sensíveis. As análises destas imagens visuais, e suas transformações ao longo do tempo, sugerem que, como reflexo de crenças cosmológicas e valores, elas podem iluminar o passado e fornecer insights úteis para mudanças fundamentais nas relações humanas com a água. Como representações das visões de mundo de grupos particulares, elas também têm uma função vital nos debates contemporâneos sobre gestão ambiental, propriedade e controle dos recursos hídricos. Baseando-se em exemplos da Austrália e Nova Zelândia, este artigo considera, portanto, o papel das imagens como indicadores temporais de mudança e como representações simbólicas de cosmologias subalternas em sociedades pós-coloniais. Examina também as implicações potenciais da pesquisa para a teoria e o método em antropologia visual. Ao manter uma abordagem etnograficamente situada objetiva, demonstra que as transformações nas relações humanas com a água, expressas através de imagens visuais de seres aquáticos, continuam a dirigir os conflitos contemporâneos sobre a propriedade da água, sua gestão e utilização

Life Down Under: Water and Identity in an Aboriginal Cultural Landscape. GARP7

Focusing on water resources this paper traces the conceptual relationships between the formal characteristics of water, the ways in which these are experienced and observed, and the imaginative use made of these qualities in the representational imagery which describes each aspect of Aboriginal life. It considers how these relationships provide systemic coherence in Aboriginal cosmology, and how they are used to define Aboriginality internally and to other groups. It argues that the consistent location of linked conceptual models in 'real world' material objects and processes gives great resiliance to Aboriginal cultural forms, enabling indigenous groups to maintain ideational continuities in a challenging political context

Water management: pragmatic and ethical issues for species-inclusive and sustainable water policies

The Leaders’ Pledge for Nature highlights the fact that since ecosystems underpin human well-being, we need to “recognize that the business case for biodiversity is compelling”. In this article we argue that, in all areas of water management, there is an urgent need for a paradigmatic and practical shift to species-inclusive and sustainable water policies and practices. We believe that policies prioritizing human interests inevitably promote unsustainable forms of water management and use. This article outlines an alternative vision based on the “Half-Earth” (Wilson 2016) perspective, emerging from the “nature needs half” or NNH movement. NNH researchers state that to maintain viable long-term populations of most of the Earth's remaining species, approximately 50 of landscapes and seascapes need to be protected from intensive human economic use. However, while terrestriaconservation measures are prominent in the literature, a Half-Earth, of fresh and sea waterscapes is rarely discussed. Our article addresses this omissionWe ask what species-inclusive policies and practices in marine and freshwater conservation would look like? If government policy-makers direct spending towards sustainable fishing, for example, how can this align with a focus on marine biodiversity? How can an ecocentric view tackle the illicit finance involved in illegal fishing? How do we marry up existing conservation policywhich is people-centric, with ecocentric 'nature positivity'? We reflect on possible implications for ecocentric water management and sustainable water policies and practices from examples of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) Sea Shepherd and Greenpeace. We also note the potential for Strang’s proposed ‘re-imagined communities’ approach to be applied to river catchmenand marine management, providing a conceptual model for rebalancing wider decision-making processes to include non-human needs and interests

Fluid consistencies. Material relationality in human engagements with water

Material things are not just passive recipients of human categories, meanings and values, nor mere subjects of human agency. Their particular characteristics and behaviours are formative of human–non-human relations. The common material properties of things, and the shared cognitive and phenomenological processes through which people interact with them, generate recurrent ideas and patterns of engagement in diverse cultural and historical contexts. Despite growing instrumentalism in human ‘management’ of the material world, and the emergence of new relational forms, these patterns persist