Writing the River: Stories for the Hawkesbury-Nepean
Hannan Lewsley, Jen Dollin, Brittany Vermeulen, Michelle Ryan
Hawkesbury-Nepean Waterkeeper AllianceWhat happens when the scientific method meets the creative process of narrative construction? The Hawkesbury-Nepean is an iconic yet degraded waterway encircling the Sydney Basin, carrying with it vital cultural, recreational, economic, and agricultural values. This interdisciplinary project seeks to reorient scales of value for the Hawkesbury-Nepean by developing narratives that speak to our individual experiences and various engagements with the river. By composing narratives of our experiences, this project attempts to move outside of the kind of paternalistic and dominating tendencies of colonialism and to foreground our relationality to the river as a more than human entity. Centred around a feminist ethics of care, this project moves beyond the extant parameters of human exceptionalism, beyond the paternalistic, extractivist, and anthropocentric ways of knowing that perpetuate the ethical and environmental crisis of colonialism. By writing the river, this project attempts to generate new ways of knowing to push back against the challenges of the Anthropocene.
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Hannan Lewsley
Hannan Lewsley is a PhD candidate within the Writing and Society Research Centre at Western Sydney University. His research interests centre around literary theory with a particular focus on the novel, the environmental humanities and history. His current project is exploring how the novel operates to challenge the anthropocentric inheritance of colonialism in Australian contemporary fiction.
Jen Dollin
Jen Dollin is the Director, Sustainability Education and Partnerships in the Office of the Pro-Vice Chancellor Education Quality and Partnerships. Jen provides leadership and oversight of Western’s institutional sustainability and resilience decadal strategy and educational offerings. She has over 20 years’ experience of working with grassroots community groups and developing participatory, innovative approaches to collaborating with diverse human and more-than-human communities. Her research interests focus on multispecies ethnography, transdisciplinary learning and ecofeminism. She is passionate about the unloved, uncharismatic creatures of the world and spends much of her time near rivers and creeks.
Brittany Vermeulen
With a decade working in higher education, Brittany’s expertise in Sustainability and Sustainability Education expands taught curriculum, co-curricular student experiences, and broader community engagement. Her impactful work extends to regional initiatives, addressing vital issues like youth empowerment, health waterways, and climate resilience, under the Regional Centre for Expertise in Education for Sustainable Development – Greater Western Sydney. Currently pursuing a PhD, her research focus explores critical thinking through the intersection of science education and immersive global learning.
Michelle Ryan
Michelle Ryan is a Senior Lecturer in Ecology and Environmental Science at Western Sydney University. Michelle’s passions include working with local communities to create positive environmental outcomes through engagement and education. Michelle’s research includes human impacts on aquatic environments with a focus on the ecological health of freshwater systems and aquatic animals. Her current research focuses on the iconic platypus and the health of the platypus populations in a growing Greater Sydney.