Chapter 2 Possessing and Protecting the Southern Ocean : Connection and mediation in the Antarctic work of Douglas Mawson and Alan Villiers

Abstract

This interdisciplinary edited collection explores and analyses the field of the blue humanities through an Australian lens. The blue humanities is a way of understanding humanity’s relationship with water and manifestations of what is referred to as the ‘blue’ – reefs, oceans, rivers, creeks, basins, and inland bodies of water. In its scope, this collection emphasises both the importance of the local and the interconnectedness of Australia with global environmental concerns. It considers how we conceptualise watery spaces and shades of blue in a country where water is often marked by its absence, its ephemerality, its politicisation, and its dangers. Contributors from environmental history, environmental social science, political science, literary studies, creative arts, Indigenous Knowledge, education, and anthropology tackle various entanglements between the human, the more-than-human, and watery Australian spaces in modern culture. It is the first volume to offer a specific, dedicated focus on the intersections between Australian space and the blue humanities, and it offers a pathway for those wishing to explore, critique, and advance ideas around the blue humanities in both research and teaching. Directly contributing to a growing interdisciplinary field, this is the first book to comprehensively examine the blue in Australia, appealing to scholars, educators, and students working across the humanities and social sciences with an interest in the environmental humanities, ecopolitics, ecocriticism, the blue humanities, cultural geography, environmental history, and the role of place.