Tracking knowledge in Northern Australian landscapes: studies in indigenous and settler ecological knowledge systems

Abstract

The essays in this book are focussed on the northern and central outback regions of Australia. They explore some of the systematic ways in which Australian people have organised, communicated, erased, and reinvented knowledge of those unique environments. Among the contributors are 'Settler' and Indigenous writers; the range of their academic disciplines includes anthropology, archaeology, biological science, and geography. Landscapes are formed by the interactions between humans and other living and non-living things. The premise underlying this book is that people bring meaning to the landscapes of their lives, that their meaningful actions shape landscapes, and that their culture is shaped through the process of living in interaction with those landscapes. These essays challenge complacency as they explore the possibilities for sustainable habitation in these beautiful and threatened environments.