Decolonizing Geology: A Discussion

Abstract

Decolonizing geology was a discussion held on July 3, 2020, hosted by the New Earth Histories Research Program at the University of New South Wales. It was moderated by Adam Bobbette and included Ruth Gamble (La Trobe University), Cin-Ty Lee (Rice University), and Christopher Wilson (Flinders University). The discussion was about how researchers from different fields—history, earth sciences, and archeology—understand the relationship between geology and society, time, cosmology, Indigenous knowledges, and what it means to decolonize geology. The discussion began with a welcome to country, the convention of recognizing Aboriginal land and its traditional custodians in Australia. Because the event was held over Zoom, with speakers in four locations on two continents, welcome to country acknowledged the Aboriginal and Indigenous land of each place.

2020年7月3日，澳大利亚新南威尔士大学的新地球历史研究项目举办了一场研讨会，讨论了去殖民地质学。会议由亚当·博比特主持，与会人员包括露丝·甘博（拉筹伯大学）、辛蒂·李（莱斯大学）和克里斯托弗·威尔逊（弗林德斯大学）。讨论的内容是，不同领域（历史、地球科学和考古学）研究人员如何理解地质学与社会、时间、宇宙学、本土知识之间的关系，及其对去殖民地质学的意义。研讨会首先举行了“欢迎来到澳大利亚”仪式，该仪式是承认澳大利亚土著领地及其传统监护人的一个传统。活动基于Zoom举办。由于发言人分布在两个大洲的四个地点，所以该仪式也承认了每个地点的土著和土著领地。

Descolonizando la geología fue el tema de una discusión efectuada el 3 de julio de 20020, patrocinada por el Programa de Investigación de Historias de la Nueva Tierra, en la Universidad de Nueva Gales del Sur. Fue moderada por Adam Bobbete e incluyó como participantes a Ruth Gamble (Universidad de La Trobe), Cin-Ty Lee (Universidad de Rice) y Christopher Wilson (Universidad de Flinders). La discusión versó sobre el modo como entienden los investigadores de diferentes campos ––historia, ciencias de la tierra y arqueología–– la relación entre geología y sociedad, tiempo, cosmología, conocimientos indígenas, y qué quiere decir descolonizar la geología. La discusión empezó con una bienvenida de país, la convención de reconocer la tierra aborigen y a sus custodios tradicionales en Australia. Por cuanto el evento se llevó a cabo a través de Zoom, con los presentadores en cuatro localidades situadas en dos continentes, las bienvenidas de país dieron reconocimiento a la tierra aborigen e indígena de cada lugar.

Key Words:

• decolonization
• earth sciences
• geology
• New Earth Histories
• political geology
• 去殖民化
• 地球科学
• 地质学
• 新地球历史
• 政治地质学。
• ciencias de la tierra
• descolonización
• geología
• geología política
• Historia de la Nueva Tierra

Notes

1. National Reconciliation Week in Australia commemorates, in part, the People’s Walk for Reconciliation, 28 May 2000, when more than 300,000 Aboriginal and non-Indigenous people marched across the Sydney Harbor Bridge as a symbol of reconciliation between settler Australians and Aboriginals. In the 1990s, the Australian government, instead of granting sovereignty, land rights, or treaties, set in motion a process of so-called reconciliation that was in partly symbolic partly legislative. As Penelope Edmonds put it, “There is little doubt, looking back, that the structural and legal gains of the reconciliation process were deficient, if not mostly absent.” See, Penelope Edmonds (2016, 98).

2. See Christopher Wilson (2017).

3. See Tony Milnes (2018, 2–2).

4. See Patrick D. Nunn and Nicholas J. Reid (2016, 1–37).

5. See Duane W. Hamacher (2020).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Adam Bobbette

ADAM BOBBETTE is Post-doctoral Fellow in the New Earth Histories Research Program, University of New South Wales, Sydney. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include political geology and alternative histories of the modern environmental sciences, cultural geographies of volcanology and geophysics in Southeast Asia, the relationship between Javanese mysticism and modern earth sciences.

Ruth Gamble

RUTH GAMBLE is Lecturer in History, La Trobe University, Melbourne. E-mail: [email protected]. Her research interests include Tibetan history and the rapidly changing environments in Tibet and the Himalaya and its effects on inhabitants there.

Cin-Ty Lee

CIN-TY LEE is Harry Carothers Wiess Professor of Geology and Department Chair in Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, Rice University. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include differentiation between mantle and crust in the earth, subduction zones, origins of ore, magma dynamics and volcanology.

Christopher Wilson

CHRISTOPHER WILSON is Senior Lecturer in Archeology & Indigenous Australian Studies, College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Flinders University. E-mail: [email protected]. His research interests include Australian archeology, archeology of First Australians, Holocene occupation of the Lower Murray River and Coorong, and critical race studies.