Of Trees, Deer, Humans and the Spaces Between: Orientating towards the future bygiving voice to the disparate groups and individuals
Lead Research Organisation:
University of the Highlands and Islands
Department Name: Inverness College UHI
Abstract
Full project title: Of Trees, Deer, Humans and the Spaces Between: Orientating towards the future bygiving voice to the disparate groups and individuals involved in Scotland's 'deerquestion': A creative practice research response.
This research will look at how creative non-fiction, fiction and ecopoetic strategies would represent, relate and interact in the arena of tensions and commonalities between themany individuals and groups involved in one of Scotland's most intractable environmentalissues, 'the deer question'. This quandary - how best and to what extent to control deernumbers in Scotland - is not a new one, and is at the heart of many current land issues with their ensuing economic, environmental and social implications. In this presentmoment when policies are being driven by the urgent need to mitigate climate change,there is a drive to plant trees, and with deer being the most prolific wild herbivore in Scotland, and a threat to woodland generation, 'the deer question' has become a red-hotissue.The research will examine how creative interventions might translate, reflect and impactexisting practices and processes in this polemic arena of land management with regard to 'the deer question'. This project will investigate the potential of diverse creative writinggenres to self-reflexively explore the tensions, boundaries and intersections of the differentparties involved. The main research question asks: Against a backdrop of unfolding ecological crisis what overarching whole, coherent or otherwise, can emerge from thisdivisive, fragmented and hotly-debated issue by taking on a plurality of perspectives?
This research will look at how creative non-fiction, fiction and ecopoetic strategies would represent, relate and interact in the arena of tensions and commonalities between themany individuals and groups involved in one of Scotland's most intractable environmentalissues, 'the deer question'. This quandary - how best and to what extent to control deernumbers in Scotland - is not a new one, and is at the heart of many current land issues with their ensuing economic, environmental and social implications. In this presentmoment when policies are being driven by the urgent need to mitigate climate change,there is a drive to plant trees, and with deer being the most prolific wild herbivore in Scotland, and a threat to woodland generation, 'the deer question' has become a red-hotissue.The research will examine how creative interventions might translate, reflect and impactexisting practices and processes in this polemic arena of land management with regard to 'the deer question'. This project will investigate the potential of diverse creative writinggenres to self-reflexively explore the tensions, boundaries and intersections of the differentparties involved. The main research question asks: Against a backdrop of unfolding ecological crisis what overarching whole, coherent or otherwise, can emerge from thisdivisive, fragmented and hotly-debated issue by taking on a plurality of perspectives?
People |
ORCID iD |
| Vicky Johnson (Primary Supervisor) | |
| Leonie Charlton (Student) |