Subject Area: Environmental Humanities

This course focuses on the complex intersection between Indigenous people and the natural environment. The course explores both Australian and international contexts, with two major case studies, where arguments are made for the preservation of cultural and natural diversity. The history of the concept of ‘nature’ is explored and various examples are given to illustrate the diversity of human/non-human relationships across different cultures. A second aim is the political economic analysis of specific sites of industrial-indigenous conflict where fundamental and often opposed values are negotiated. These two modes of analysis, cultural description and political economy, will help students to write future policy in these areas.