Reflections of dwelling in the landscape: Interactions, landscape justice and participatory research
Maggie Roe presents keynote speech at the 29th Session of the Permanent European Conference for the Study of the Rural Landscape
13 October 2022
Maggie Roe presented a keynote speech at the 29th Session of the Permanent European Conference for the Study of the Rural Landscape (PECSRL) 27th Sept-3rd Oct at the University of Jaén in Spain. The Conference focused on ‘Living Together in the Rural Landscape’ and her presentation title was ‘Reflections on dwelling in the landscape:
Interactions, landscape justice and participatory research’. Using illustrations from recent research in Vietnam and Bangladesh from the GCRF Living Deltas project and the NE coast Seascapes project she addressed the key question: How can we live together – or ‘dwell’ - with mutual benefit between all organisms and systems that create landscapes?
Niki Black and Maggie Roe have recently returned from fieldwork in Vietnam as part of the GCRF Living Deltas project. Along with Cat Button they are working on two main streams of research in Vietnam to understand people’s relationships with changing delta landscapes and cultural expressions of those changes with honey-gatherers in the Mekong Delta and in relation to water puppetry in the Red River delta with puppetry troupes and stakeholders including academic partners and the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology (VME).
Maggie Roe and Niki Black interviewing a professional honey-gatherer and officials from the U Minh Ha National Park in the Mekong Delta, south Vietnam. Photo: N Black, 2022
Vietnamese Water Puppet Performance at the Vietnamese National Puppet Theatre in Hanoi. A fascinating and unique cultural form, Water Puppetry originated in the rice fields of northern Vietnam. N Black, 2022
The wooden puppets 'perform' on the surface of the water, traditionally a village pond or, as here, a specially created tank in front of the theatre's stage. N Black, 2022
The honey-gatherers of the Mekong Delta, Vietnam use a unique technique of ‘raftering’ - wild honey bees are encouraged to establish their nests on beams located so that they are accessible for honey-gathering.