The Linearization of Landscapes: Patterns of Water, Terrain, and Life.

In this informal reading group Sonia Levy (RADAR-commissioned artist) and Heather Swanson (Anthropologist, Aarhus University) will share some of the inspirations for their collaborative project on landscape modification and introduced species (see description: https://radar.lboro.ac.uk/artists/sonia-levy/), and enter into discussion about some of their emerging ideas. In preparation for what is hoped will be a wide-ranging conversation at the crossroads of questions about industrial development, landscape change, the remaking of rivers, and feminist theory, we’d like to ask attendees to read the following two texts:

Tsing, A., 2016. Earth stalked by man. The Cambridge Journal of Anthropology, 34(1), pp.2-16.

This journal article – which presents a feminist analysis of global ecological history – illustrates some of the theoretical approaches that we seek to incorporate into our work.

Da Cunha, D., 2019. The Invention of Rivers: Alexander's Eye and Ganga's Descent. University of Pennsylvania Press. Introduction and Chapter 2.

These chapters explicitly foregrounds rivers, their representation, and their straightening. We also hope it might lead us into discussions of form and genre.

These two readings draw from different intellectual traditions (anthropology, for the former, and landscape architecture, for the latter), and we are enthusiastic at the prospect of interdisciplinary encounters with the Loughborough Community.

Copies of the texts will be shared on registration to attend the event.

Further information on the IAS Water Theme can be found on the IAS website.