University of Tasmania
Browse

File(s) under permanent embargo

The trouble with nature: Ambivalence in the lives of urban Australian environmentalists

journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-16, 22:23 authored by Aidan DavisonAidan Davison
The number and range of contests over the social production of nature is growing. Much environmentalist discourse, however, continues to appeal for unequivocal scientific support on clearly demarcated issues of pure, a-social nature. This paper explores the question of how participants in environmental movements view this demarcation in the context of their own lives. After introducing scholarly critique of dualistic ideas of nature and the ambivalence characteristic of environmentalist conceptions of nature, the paper draws upon a qualitative study with environmentalists in the Australian cities of Melbourne, Perth and Hobart. Inquiring into the interplay of discourse of nature and everyday worlds, interviews revealed a complex interdependence of dualistic and non-dualistic understandings of nature. This ecology of ideas was especially evident in spatial imaginaries of nature. Scientific terminology, social disaffection and pessimism were associated with abstract and mutually exclusive conceptions of society and nature. Reflections on personal experience, however, indicated more flexible and hopeful negotiations in everyday liminal spaces offering ‘the best of both worlds’. It is concluded that environmentalist resistance to dismantling of conceptual boundaries between society and nature may often stem not from failure to appreciate socionatural complexity, but from a strongly felt sense that the self can only truly be found in nature.

History

Publication title

Geoforum

Volume

39

Pagination

1284-1295

ISSN

0016-7185

Department/School

School of Geography, Planning and Spatial Sciences

Publisher

Pergamon

Place of publication

United Kingdom

Rights statement

The definitive version is available at http://www.sciencedirect.com

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Expanding knowledge in human society

Usage metrics

    University Of Tasmania

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC