Thinking like a wetland

Dillon, Patrick; Gross, Philip; Irvine, Richard; Price, Valerie Coffin; Staddon, Chad

Abstract

This article is an invitation to therapeutic deconstruction: a call to reconsider our assumptions about land, water and the relationship between the wet and the dry. It takes the form of a dialogue in which poetry (Gross) and visual art (Price) prompts, probes and challenges reflections offered by a natural resource economist (Staddon), a cultural ecologist (Dillon) and an anthropologist (Irvine). From our multiple perspectives, we explore the wetland as a site of common interest, and through different approaches to the thought experiment of what it might mean to ‘think like a wetland’ we seek to engage with the materiality of these places. We ask what it means to be a part of a wetland, not simply treating these habitats as resources to be managed, but as sites of dwelling that have agency in their own right.

Citation

Dillon, P., Gross, P., Irvine, R., Price, V. C., & Staddon, C. (2012). Thinking like a wetland. Journal of Arts and Communities, 4(1), 100-126. https://doi.org/10.1386/jaac.4.1-2.100_1

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Dec 1, 2012
• Journal: Journal of Arts and Communities
• Print ISSN: 1757-1936
• Publisher: Intellect
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 4
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 100-126
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1386/jaac.4.1-2.100_1
• Keywords: ecology, environment, landscape, resources, water, wetlands
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/941472
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1386/jaac.4.1-2.100_1