Flows of Entanglements: How Rivers Shape Identity

Description

This panel invites scholars from a diverse range of disciplines to consider the entangled and fluid ways in which rivers shape identities. The language of rivers has seeped into our vocabulary, inspiring expressions and conceptions of everyday life. Fluidscapes oscillate between land and water shaping political, cultural, social and environmental discourses. We live on and by rivers, we have songs dedicated to rivers. We seek to cross rivers on ferries or bridges, by swimming or wading. Rivers break the banks into which they are confined, carrying within them traces of our imagination and memories. It is no wonder that time has etymological connections with tide as poets, artists, novelists and academics consider the ebbs and the flows of histories: reflecting and responding to the river itself, the lives it sustains, its cultural narratives and wider ecosystems. Rivers are places of connection but also of distinction. Through this full day session, we are hoping to promote an interactive, informal and multi-perspective discussion that explores the meanings and representations of rivers, documenting how we live on, by, or with rivers. Taking the interface between water and land, we recognise that rivers are also murky spaces, dynamically shaping and reflecting the world in which we live. They are complex flows of entangled forms, species intentions and systems.

Period	5 Sept 2019
Event type	Conference
Degree of Recognition	International