She worked in the Caribbean for 18 years prior to beginning research in central Australia in 1989... more She worked in the Caribbean for 18 years prior to beginning research in central Australia in 1989. She retains a keen interest in both fields, has published widely, and contributes regularly to invited sessions of the annual meetings of the American Anthropological Association. Recent publications include Arrernte Ethnography and the Production and Anthropological Knowledge xii Present, Arrernte Past: Invasion, Violence and Imagination in Indigenous Central Australia (University of Chicago Press, 2009) and 'Quarantining violence: how anthropology does it' in J. Altman and M. Hinkson (eds) Culture Crisis: Anthropology and Politics in Aboriginal Australia (UNSW Press, 2010). A forthcoming book discusses the politics of debate about remote Aboriginal Australia. Marcus Barber Marcus Barber studied marine biology and the history and philosophy of science before commencing a PhD in Anthropology at The Australian National University. Nicolas Peterson was his primary supervisor, and Marcus Barber's doctoral research focused on Indigenous relationships to water and the marine environment in remote Arnhem Land. He assisted with the conduct of the Blue Mud Bay case, which led to changes in the sea tenure regime in the Northern Territory. Following his PhD, Marcus Barber lectured in anthropology at James Cook University in Townsville until the end of 2009, and he remains an Associate Lecturer of that department. He is now based in Darwin and works for the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), undertaking research to facilitate Indigenous involvement in water planning across Northern Australia.
Indigenous engagements with water are dynamic and contextually contingent, and contemporary attit... more Indigenous engagements with water are dynamic and contextually contingent, and contemporary attitudes and environmental valuations are shaped by diverse pre-existing water histories. Geographical variation intersects and interacts with such histories to influence the moral position taken by individuals and groups and their negotiating position as they engage in public debates or decisions about water diversion, management, and use, as well as the tradeoffs and risks of associated negative impacts. This paper draws together Indigenous historical and contemporary perspectives regarding the diversion, damming and manipulation of water sources from four tropical watersheds that span Australia's remote north-the Harding and Ord Rivers in Western Australia, the Roper River in the Northern Territory, and the Gilbert River in North Queensland. Conceptually, the paper brings together the literatures of Indigenous water values and the political ecology of water resources. The analysis deploys the waterscape concept that has emerged from geography and history to characterise the key features of Indigenous peoples' dynamic relationships to water and to link water and social power relations in these watersheds over time. The cases support the proposition that Indigenous people are often concerned about industrial-scale water diversion and damming. Yet our regional studies also undercut the notion that such concerns emerge from an Indigenous culture that passively responds to the prevailing hydrology, or the idea popular in settler Australia that these hydraulic environments are themselves unaffected by past human action. Indigenous attitudes to diversion and damming are informed by previous experiences of water manipulation, which include the social relations that shaped these practices, at times with demonstrably pre-colonial origins, as well as by contemporary perspectives on the tradeoffs
International Journal of Biodiversity Science, Ecosystem Services & Management, 2015
ABSTRACT Cultural ecosystem services (ES) are particularly challenging to value as well as to sub... more ABSTRACT Cultural ecosystem services (ES) are particularly challenging to value as well as to subsequently incorporate in scientific assessments and environmental management actions and programmes. In this paper, we apply a cultural ES typology to an Australian water resources case at a location of major indigenous cultural significance, the Brewarrina Aboriginal fish traps, and consider the potential implications for water planning. Data from qualitative interviews with indigenous custodians demonstrates diverse cultural values and associated benefits with respect to the fish traps themselves and to their connectivity with another key water site, an upstream lagoon. Supported by additional analyses of water planning legislation, flow requirements, and non-indigenous tourist values, we analyse the applicability of the typology and the implications for water planning. Key issues include: the distinction between values and benefits; whose values and which cultural ES benefits are identified and managed; the challenges of categorising indigenous aspirations within cultural ES frameworks; and the implications for water planning of indigenous perspectives on connectivity. Case studies of culturally specific minorities are useful for testing cultural ES frameworks because they posit conceptual and categorisation challenges. In addition, ‘culture’ is often of strategic and symbolic value for such minorities, representing the key means by which they gain access to, and traction within, natural resource planning and prioritisation processes.
She worked in the Caribbean for 18 years prior to beginning research in central Australia in 1989... more She worked in the Caribbean for 18 years prior to beginning research in central Australia in 1989. She retains a keen interest in both fields, has published widely, and contributes regularly to invited sessions of the annual meetings of the American Anthropological Association. Recent publications include Arrernte Ethnography and the Production and Anthropological Knowledge xii Present, Arrernte Past: Invasion, Violence and Imagination in Indigenous Central Australia (University of Chicago Press, 2009) and 'Quarantining violence: how anthropology does it' in J. Altman and M. Hinkson (eds) Culture Crisis: Anthropology and Politics in Aboriginal Australia (UNSW Press, 2010). A forthcoming book discusses the politics of debate about remote Aboriginal Australia. Marcus Barber Marcus Barber studied marine biology and the history and philosophy of science before commencing a PhD in Anthropology at The Australian National University. Nicolas Peterson was his primary supervisor, and Marcus Barber's doctoral research focused on Indigenous relationships to water and the marine environment in remote Arnhem Land. He assisted with the conduct of the Blue Mud Bay case, which led to changes in the sea tenure regime in the Northern Territory. Following his PhD, Marcus Barber lectured in anthropology at James Cook University in Townsville until the end of 2009, and he remains an Associate Lecturer of that department. He is now based in Darwin and works for the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), undertaking research to facilitate Indigenous involvement in water planning across Northern Australia.
Indigenous engagements with water are dynamic and contextually contingent, and contemporary attit... more Indigenous engagements with water are dynamic and contextually contingent, and contemporary attitudes and environmental valuations are shaped by diverse pre-existing water histories. Geographical variation intersects and interacts with such histories to influence the moral position taken by individuals and groups and their negotiating position as they engage in public debates or decisions about water diversion, management, and use, as well as the tradeoffs and risks of associated negative impacts. This paper draws together Indigenous historical and contemporary perspectives regarding the diversion, damming and manipulation of water sources from four tropical watersheds that span Australia's remote north-the Harding and Ord Rivers in Western Australia, the Roper River in the Northern Territory, and the Gilbert River in North Queensland. Conceptually, the paper brings together the literatures of Indigenous water values and the political ecology of water resources. The analysis deploys the waterscape concept that has emerged from geography and history to characterise the key features of Indigenous peoples' dynamic relationships to water and to link water and social power relations in these watersheds over time. The cases support the proposition that Indigenous people are often concerned about industrial-scale water diversion and damming. Yet our regional studies also undercut the notion that such concerns emerge from an Indigenous culture that passively responds to the prevailing hydrology, or the idea popular in settler Australia that these hydraulic environments are themselves unaffected by past human action. Indigenous attitudes to diversion and damming are informed by previous experiences of water manipulation, which include the social relations that shaped these practices, at times with demonstrably pre-colonial origins, as well as by contemporary perspectives on the tradeoffs
International Journal of Biodiversity Science, Ecosystem Services & Management, 2015
ABSTRACT Cultural ecosystem services (ES) are particularly challenging to value as well as to sub... more ABSTRACT Cultural ecosystem services (ES) are particularly challenging to value as well as to subsequently incorporate in scientific assessments and environmental management actions and programmes. In this paper, we apply a cultural ES typology to an Australian water resources case at a location of major indigenous cultural significance, the Brewarrina Aboriginal fish traps, and consider the potential implications for water planning. Data from qualitative interviews with indigenous custodians demonstrates diverse cultural values and associated benefits with respect to the fish traps themselves and to their connectivity with another key water site, an upstream lagoon. Supported by additional analyses of water planning legislation, flow requirements, and non-indigenous tourist values, we analyse the applicability of the typology and the implications for water planning. Key issues include: the distinction between values and benefits; whose values and which cultural ES benefits are identified and managed; the challenges of categorising indigenous aspirations within cultural ES frameworks; and the implications for water planning of indigenous perspectives on connectivity. Case studies of culturally specific minorities are useful for testing cultural ES frameworks because they posit conceptual and categorisation challenges. In addition, ‘culture’ is often of strategic and symbolic value for such minorities, representing the key means by which they gain access to, and traction within, natural resource planning and prioritisation processes.
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Papers by Marcus Barber