Deadline: December 1, 2022
Contact: Arlene Plevin, Emerita Professor of English
Email: plevinarlene@gmail.com
Deadline extended to December 15
Panel proposed at the 2023 ASLE + AESS Conference: “Reclaiming the Commons”
July 9-12, 2023 in Portland, Oregon
“People who visit the coast at least twice weekly tend to experience better general and mental health.”
–Dr. Lewis Elliott
“In Minnesota, the fatal drowning rate of American Indians is more than three times the rate for whites. Blacks and Asians in the state are nearly one-and-a-half times as likely to drown as whites, according to CDC statistics. The fatal drowning rate of African-American children ages 5 to 14 nationally is three times that of white children the same age, according to a report published last year by the Centers for Disease Control.”
— “Swimming a ‘Luxury’ to Many Minorities, Immigrants—Program Aims to Help”
All over the world, people swim and wade in lakes, rivers, oceans, and other wild spots. Some do this for pleasure or health, while others swim in pursuit of fish, pearls, or other water treasures. Some of this burgeoning interest in open water or wild swimming is due to Covid-19, which discouraged many from swimming inside in pools or other human-maintained sources of water. For those with privilege, the water world is their oyster. Swimming in skins (bathing suit) or wetsuits (the use of which has grown exponentially), they often have easy access to safe water and the tools that help them swim year-round. Most are privileged to be comfortable in water, a result of both unfettered access to water and instruction that enabled them to feel at home there. In other words, their experiences of local waters is an embodied enactment that they could be anywhere. It is a reenactment of a socioeconomic advantage witnessed by those who can swim and those who cannot. Ironically, living near any kind of water can be a leveler of sorts, regardless of other resources. As the European Centre for Environmental Health notes: “living near the sea seemed to confer the greatest health-related benefit on those living in the poorest areas.” In that respect, water can be a kind of leveler, both with respect to benefits and climate change.
Consequently, this panel seeks to define and articulate what worldwide watery commons could look like. In pursuit of that, and articulating “a politics of care,” creative and hybrid talks are invited that explore:
• What could global watery commons look like? What countries currently offer legislation, philosophical and cultural perspectives (see allemansrätten) that could create global watery commons? What are the conflicting and contradictory approaches to water sharing and ownership that could preclude this? What are the perceived risks/benefits of creating more watery commons? Can urban spaces be rewilded by fountains, canals? How might animals be envisioned in global water commons?
• What barriers prevent people of all abilities, ages, and backgrounds to partake of watery commons? How could commons disrupt this? How is the invisibility of those marginalized by historical lack of access to water continued?
• According to BlueHealth, “Marine and coastal margins were found by some distance to be the happiest locations.” How does climate change as differently experienced and predicted suggest a reassessment of the watery commons? How does the loss of access to water factor into climate grief?
• How do economics and accessibility affect global watery commons? Are there gender, race, socioeconomic and religious issues in access to water?
• What do the environmental humanities offer to a discussion of global watery commons?
• Where would animals fit into global water commons?
• What resources (current businesses, NGOs, universities, federal and local agencies and laws) work worldwide on challenging/creating a platform for global watery commons?
• What might ASLE do to encourage dialogue about water? How does this connect to invigorating/reimagining an activist ASLE?
Send abstracts to Arlene Plevin at plevinarlene@gmail.com by December 15, 2022.
Posted on October 17, 2022
