ICS Seminar Series - Jenny Pickerill

Date: Thursday 13 October 2016
Time: 11.30am–1pm
Venue: EE.G.36, Western Sydney University, Parramatta South campus

Jenny Pickerill

(Sheffield University)

Black and Green: The Future of Indigenous-environmental Relations in Australia

Abstract

Indigenous-environmental relations in Australia have never been easy but remain crucial to enabling adequate environmental protection alongside necessary social justice outcomes. Using two examples from fieldwork in northern Australia – the Wild Rivers campaign in Queensland and contestations over Walmadany (James Price Point) in Western Australia, this talk explores the contrast between the sustained, multiple and detailed efforts that environmental groups have put into black-green relations and the public perception (reiterated in particular by national Indigenous spokespeople such as Noel Pearson and Marcia Langton) that environmentalists do not care about Indigenous people. It examines in detail what collaborations really exist, the complexity of how Indigenous and environmental activists work, or not, together, and some potential ways forward for the future.

Biography

Jenny Pickerill is a Professor of Environmental Geography at Sheffield University, UK. Her research focuses on how we understand, value and (ab)use the environment. She is particularly interested in inspiring grassroots solutions to environmental problems and in hopeful and positive ways in which we can change social practices. She has written several books, including Eco-Homes (Zed Books, 2016), Anti-War Activism (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008) and Cyberprotest (Manchester Uni Press, 2003).