Humanities for the Environment Conference hosted at the University of Pretoria

From 4 to 6 August 2017 the Centre for the Advancement of Scholarship, in conjunction with the Faculty of Law and the Faculty of Humanities, hosted an international conference as part of the Humanities for the Environment. Opened by the Dean of Humanities, Professor Vasu Reddy, the conference welcomed scholars from the African Observatory for the Humanities for the Environment, as well as academics from the Humanities for the Environment international network. These included Professor Joni Adamson, Professor Iain McCalman, Professor Steven Hartman, Professor Poul Holm, and Professor Sally Kitch.

In the weeks leading up to the conference, Professor Joni Adamson presented two events. The first was the screening of a film by Latin American Observatory co-convenor, Professor Juan Carlos Galeano. The film, “El Rio (The River)” is a working documentary on the role the Amazon River plays in the lives of the inhabitants of the riverbank. Later in the week Professor Adamson gave a public lecture on “Food Futures: Speculative Fiction and Film, Ethnobotanical Knowledges and Urban Resilience”. The lecture provided insight into the link between literature and film, and the reality of earth’s food security.

The conference formally started on Friday 4 August 2017, with and introduction by the Dean of Humanities, Professor Vasu Reddy. Professor Reddy welcomed all the participants, and emphasised the importance of crossing disciplinary boundaries to investigate the interface between the human and non-human environments, and to code the human experience within their environment. Professor Reddy further reiterated the importance of Humanities for the Environment in challenging our assumptions and our definitions of human nature in our environment. Such conferences provide the opportunity to share multidisciplinary approaches to the environment and society.

This was followed by a keynote address by Professor Jacob Dlamini. Professor Dlamini’s address titled “Who needs national parks?” focused on the function of national parks, and the conflicts that exist between animals and humans. He focused his presentation on the function of the parks to the different stakeholders, and questioned the future these parks hold in South Africa.

The programme across the two formal days of the conference consisted of presentations by our local academics and international guests. On the first day, presentations ranged from topics focusing on the neo-liberalisation of nature in Africa by Professor Benda Hofmeyer, a University of Pretoria philosophy academic, to a discussion on resilience of Hong Kong by Dr Timothy Sim, a disaster management scholar. Rory du Plessis, a visual culture studies lecturer at the University of Pretoria, presented on the digital environmental humanities and his experiences inspiring thoughtful citizenship in his students. Professor Amanda du Preez presented a paper titled “Dreams of a Post-Earth: Implications for Humanities and the Environment”.

The second day consisted of presentations intended for a special journal issue from international guests, and two members of the African Observatory. Professor Poul Holm opened the session by introducing this special edition journal, to which the proceeding presenters would be contributing to. Highlighted was the role that humans play in their environment, and how studies of the humanities can contribute to pro-environmental behaviour.  Professor Adamson’s presentation on the “Citizen Humanities” looked at how the Humanities as a discipline contributed to solutions to social justices and environmental challenges. Professor Sally Kitch discussed the gaps that exist between intentions for collaborative disciplinary research and the work being done on the so called “hard sciences”. Professor James Ogude looked at African literature as a record keeping of the ecological degradation Africa has endured. Professor Steven Hartman’s discussed his paper titled “Orwellian Rebranding and the Occlusion of Crucial Knowledge: Two Dilemmas of Policy-relevant Climate Change Science in the Age of Trump”. Professor Iain McCalman looks at two Australian humanitists, poet Judith Wright and artist John Burst, who contributed to the protection of the Great Barrier Reef in the early 1960s. His paper explores how modern Humanities scholars can continue this environmental protection through their work. Melanie Murcott, from the University of Pretoria’s Law Faculty, discussed the impact of the decline in the rhino population  in South Africa has on the rest of the world, looking at the recent court decision to set aside a moratorium on the rhino horn trade.  

The third day of the conference was devoted to discussions around the future of the Observatories and the work Humanities for the Environment will focus on moving forward. It was a fitting conclusion to a conference that highlighted the importance of humanities in the conversation surrounding the environment and its importance as part of the human experience. 

Photos of the event can be found here.