Situating nature: On doing cultural geographies of Australian nature

Abstract

This paper concentrates on the practices and possibilities of doing poststructural cultural geographies of nature. The paper begins with an overview of the ways in which nature is being reconceptualised in social thought. It charts a middle territory between strong social constructivism and realist approaches, arguing for a relational understanding of nature and culture, and the extension of agency to non-humans--organic and artificial. These 'more than human worlds' ( Whatmore, 'Hybrid geographies' , Sage, London, 2002) pose considerable challenges for researchers. They open spaces for new subjects and new subjectivities, decentre human agency, and challenge more conventional methodological approaches that rely on a separation between subject and object. The paper considers the sorts of methodological shifts required for relational analysis, arguing for a multilayered, multivalent, embodied and situated approach. The practices of situatedness are emphasised in the Australian context, especially in relation to cross-cultural and postcolonial understandings. The paper concludes with a brief comment on the politics of doing such cultural geographies.

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 31 citations exist upstream.