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Speaking with the river: Confluence and interdisciplinarity in rivers and river systems
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Speaking with the river: Confluence and interdisciplinarity in rivers and river systems

Grayson Cooke, Rob Garbutt, Jo Kijas, Alessandro Pelizzon, John Page, Adele Wessell, Frances Belle Parker and Amanda Reichelt-Brushett
Environment and planning. E, Nature and space, pp.1-19
27/11/2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/25148486221139138

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2 Times Cited - Web of Science

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#6 Clean Water and Sanitation
#11 Sustainable Cities and Communities
#13 Climate Action
#14 Life Below Water
#15 Life on Land

Source: InCites

Abstract

Rivers river listening environmental jurisprudence environmental humanities Australia
This article is underpinned by the hypothesis that if Australia is to reassess and improve its relationship to and use of rivers and river systems, then more holistic ways of understanding rivers, and strategies for representing and communicating this understanding, must be developed and brought together. Held over two days in August 2019 at the Lismore campus of Southern Cross University, ‘Speaking With the River’ was an interdisciplinary symposium exploring the capacities of creative research practice to develop new understandings of rivers and river systems as simultaneously environmental, cultural, historical and economic phenomena. In this article, we bring together the voices and disciplinary insights from the symposium and the rivers of Northern New South Wales, and we reflect on the way that riverine language ran throughout our discussions and ideas, providing a connective model of confluences and conjunctions for the interdisciplinary enterprise we were engaged in. This article presents perspectives on rivers and river systems from law, history, art and science, exploring common ground and common purposes. Developing a legal framework for recognising the rights and ‘voices’ of rivers, that is informed by Indigenous knowledges, historical contexts, and scientific understanding, and that employs artistic innovation in representation and translation, is to us the ultimate goal of such an enquiry. While this paper does not undertake the formal steps of developing this framework, it provides the necessary background and instantiates its elements and working methods within the context of the Richmond River in Northern New South Wales.

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