This paper contends that recent scholarly interest in systems of colonising knowledge, whether called ‘scientific forestry,’ or ‘development,’ has paid inadequate attention to the historical processes shaping such knowledge production in specific colonial locations.
The present environment of Australia represents a palimpsest which records a history of past climates, nutrient poor soils, burning, and increasing aridity. The details of the history are not readily disentangled…
The gap between the sciences and the humanities persists in our intellectual life, with significant consequences. The new field of environmental history represents an opportunity to bridge that gap.
The paper examines the way in which the environment is produced as intellectual capital. It asks about the extent to which the environment can be understood by science and through science.
With reference to Puritjarra, a rock shelter in the Cleland Hills in western central Australia, this environmental art project examines the relationship between knowledge systems–be they indigenous, scientific, or artistic–and place.
The term describes wild or uncultivated land.
