ABSTRACT

At a time of great turmoil and crisis, environmentally, socially and politically, water has emerged as a topic of huge global concern. Moreover, many argue that what is needed in order to change our relationship with the environment is a cultural paradigm shift. To this end, this volume brings together diverse approaches to exploring human relationships with the watery world and the other living things that rely upon it.

Through exploring multiple creative ways of engaging with water and people, the volume adds to the current zeitgeist of writing about water by expanding the discussion about this vital substance and how, as humans, we relate to it. Chapters focus on creative explorations and explorations of creativity in relation to developing these understandings, including concepts such as hydrocitizenship and responses to drought and flooding. Drawing on the in-depth research and experience of arts practitioners including participatory artists, as well as academics from a variety of fields including geography, anthropology, health studies and environmental humanities, the book provides a rich and multidisciplinary perspective on water and creative ways of engaging and understanding human–water relationships. 

It represents a valuable source and inspiration for academics, arts practitioners and those involved in environmental policy and governance.

chapter |19 pages

Introduction

A new era for human–water relationships

part I|64 pages

Fluid processes

chapter 1|14 pages

Water power

Creativity and the unlocking of community knowledge

chapter 2|18 pages

This long river

chapter 4|15 pages

From Gallura to the Fens

Communities performing stories of water

part II|51 pages

Becoming water bodies

chapter 5|17 pages

Mapping a blue trace

An intermittent swimming life

chapter 6|21 pages

Creative compulsions

Performing surfing as art

chapter 7|12 pages

Waves as emblemata for knowledge

part III|49 pages

Water we know?

chapter 8|19 pages

Re-envisioning the hydro cycle

The hydrosocial spiral as a participatory toolbox for water education and management

chapter 9|15 pages

Fluid-sound

chapter 10|14 pages

And all at once the clouds descend, shed tears that never seem to end

Looking from the early modern age at water in the Anthropocene

part IV|71 pages

When water disrupts

chapter 12|15 pages

Encountering water

Sensitivities and practices for moving beyond ‘Big Water’ interventions 1

chapter 13|11 pages

Thinking like water moves

Living with climate change in Tarawa, Kiribati

chapter 14|15 pages

Narratives that travel

Anxiety, affect, and water politics in the Deschutes watershed of Central Oregon

chapter 15|13 pages

Conclusion

The beginnings of a creative water ethics