Sunsets at the Seed Forest - July 2024

Please join us in the yarning circle to learn, connect and have a yarn around the fire. This month we'll hear from local bush regenerator, Joe Brisick, as he presents on the very important topic of how we view weeds in the landscape. 

Overview

Weeds and colonisation: What if how we respond to crisis is part of the crisis?

"Weeds are integral to landcare practices. They are considered to be invasive, alien, vegetal others and the objects toward which our restorative practices are directed. But what if that is not all they can be, not all they can do? As a bush regenerator and environmental philosophy PhD candidate I would like to perambulate through the weedy world of weeds and consider what it is that makes a plant a weed? Thinking with ecofeminists, feminist new materialists, posthumanists, environmental anthropologists and continental philosophers, weeds lose their stability and completeness, and it becomes apparent that ‘weeds’ are made possible by a certain worldview, or onto-epistemology. Not so coincidently, it is also this same worldview that made possible and perpetuates processes of colonisation. 

I hope to show that how we think about weeds matters; that ‘weed’ is a taken for granted categorisation that is not politically or ethically neutral; that our preference for ‘natives’ and disdain for ‘weeds’ are inseparable from, and consequently reinforce, processes of colonisation; and, that the actions that follow from these ways of thinking have the tendency to repeat the structures against which our generative actions are directed. Removing weeds can be immensely beneficial but so can rethinking weeds. Rethinking weeds is a generative activity that enables a potential for flourishing futures that are reciprocally generative and beneficial for humans and non-humans alike "

Bio

Joe Brisick is the grateful father to Audrey and life-partner to Hannah. Growing up in Maleny Joe learnt about caring for community and land and was instilled with a deep environmental ethic. His childhood home was infused with Tibetan Buddhism which instilled in him an openness and appreciation for other perspectives, and his childhood experiences exposed him to the animacy and affectivity of the non-human world. As a bush regenerator Joe practices reciprocal restoration with an eye towards first healing the broken relationship between humans and nature. He is currently pursuing a PhD in environmental philosophy at the University of Technology Sydney where his research is a working response to the provocation posed by the Nigerian philosopher-poet Bayo Akomolafe: what if how we respond to crisis is part of the crisis?

 
Please register to attend (this is important so we can inform you if the event is cancelled due to weather). 

Bring a picnic rug or chair, your own drinks and you're welcome to bring nibbles for yourself or to share around!

This event is free for members and by donation for non-members. Please note, public toilets are a short walk away.

Proudly supported by Sunshine Coast Council’s grants program.

www.barunglandcare.org.au

Barung Landcare acknowledges the Jinibara and Kabi Kabi/Gubbi Gubbi people, Traditional Custodians of the lands on which we gather and work. We acknowledge their continuing connection to land, water and community.