Re-conceptualising desert landscapes: unpacking historical narratives and contemporary realities for sustainable livelihood development in central Australia

Abstract

Desert landscapes of central Australia have inspired various narratives for nation building. These narratives, based upon discourses of land as a commodity for the colonial project, include the inferior peripheral wastelands of the colonial centre; the wild and pristine haven of 'noble aborigines'; and the frontier home of heroic explorers and pastoralists. These narratives continue to influence land management policy and practice. However they do not reflect the diverse contemporary realities of individuals living in the region. In this paper I juxtapose these narratives and realities to reveal the multitude of ways in which desert landscapes are known and understood. A case study of a fire management project that involved Aboriginal, pastoral and conservation land managers from the southern Tanami region of central Australia provides evidence as to why desert landscapes should be re-conceptualized as cultural, contested and dynamic. To conceive of these spaces and places in this way can facilitate open discussion and dialogue between land managers from the region. It is the first step in working towards the process of cultural hybridity that I argue is necessary for equitable and sustainable environmental governance and management in Australia.

Desert knowledge: integrating knowledge and development in arid and semi-arid drylands

“…Four of the Australian papers (Cunningham et al 2009;Evans et al 2009;Moran and Elvin 2009;Singleton et al 2009) together with Tougiani et al's paper from Niger are concerned with efforts to reduce poverty and disadvantage by engaging local knowledge and resources equitably, and by promoting institutional change. The other group of four papers are concerned with understanding the diverse knowledge systems of desert people (Clark and Brake 2009;Maclean 2009; VaarzonMorel and Gabrys 2009), or tourists (Hueneke and Baker 2009), in order to promote collaborative management of the multi-functional desert landscapes of Australia.…”

“…Very large intense wildfires occurred across central Australia in 2000-2002 generating considerable conflict amongst landowners about appropriate management strategies (Edwards et al 2008). Subsequent action to establish a cross tenure fire management strategy provides the setting for the research reported in this issue in papers by Maclean (2009), andGabrys (2009). Maclean (2009) points out that while colonialism is widely recognised as having romanticised Aboriginal culture and silenced Aboriginal voices, it also mythologised and homogenised the culture of Australia's outback graziers.…”

“…Subsequent action to establish a cross tenure fire management strategy provides the setting for the research reported in this issue in papers by Maclean (2009), andGabrys (2009). Maclean (2009) points out that while colonialism is widely recognised as having romanticised Aboriginal culture and silenced Aboriginal voices, it also mythologised and homogenised the culture of Australia's outback graziers. Arguably, colonialism has also silenced the significant role that anthropogenic fire has long played in the landscapes of the Australian arid zone.…”

“…Cunningham et al, in charting the broader challenges for realising such local benefits from Australian plant products, draw solid attention to their globalised institutional settings. Other papers (Clarke and Brake 2009;Maclean 2009;Vaarzon-Morel and Gabrys 2009;and Tougiani et al 2009) present situations where extra-local actors have engaged with local knowledge and action to promote ways to address extra-local agendas collaboratively. Finally, both the papers by Moran and Elvin (2009) and by Hueneke and Baker GeoJournal (2009) 74:363-375 371 (2009), in very different settings, show that feedback from people's experiences of local places and how these are impacted by broader institutions is necessary for management systems to adapt and evolve.…”

Analysis of Agricultural Cultivation Based on a New Landscape Expansion Index: A Case Study in Guishui River Basin, China

“…A large number of studies on the process of agricultural cultivation have been conducted (Maclean 2009;Schroth & McNeely, 2011). However, previous studies only focused on the changes in area, spatial position, and spatial structure (Fu & Chen, 2001;Cassano et al, 2009).…”