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Hydropoetics: The Rewor(L)Ding Of Rivers, John Ryan

Nulungu Journal Articles

Valued in utilitarian terms as channels for industry, agriculture, and urban development, rivers are among the most biodiverse yet degraded ecosystems globally. In addition to pragmatic conservation measures, the long-term wellbeing of rivers requires new perspectives on human–water relations that call attention to—and nurture—the cultural, social, and spiritual significance of riverscapes. Drawing from current thinking in the interdisciplinary environmental humanities, this article proposes the idea of hydropoetics as an outlook on rivers based on the ancient idea of poiesis. On a planet undergoing rapid environmental change, three features—embodiment, relationality, and multiscalarity—are important to a hydropoetics attuned to the urgencies of …