40. LIVE: Is a river alive? On enlivenment, animism and nature's rights // ROBERT MACFARLANE & PELLA THIEL
About this episode
The episode explores the concept of whether a river can be considered alive and the implications of this idea on legal rights and our relationship with nature.
What does it mean to say that a river is alive? And if a river is alive, could it have legal rights that protect it from abuse and exploitation? What kinds of practices could affirm our interconnectedness with the rest of the living world? Do our Western ideals of enlightenment need to be complemented by ideas of enlivenment? In this live podcast, writer Robert Macfarlane presents his book “Is a River Alive?” and is joined by ecologist Pella Thiel and podcast host Ingrid M. Rieser. This special episode is a collaboration between the Forest of Thought , the KTH Environmental Humanities Laboratory and the On the Rights of Nature podcast. Robert Macfarlane is internationally renowned for his writing on nature, people and place. His books include Underland, Landmarks, The Old Ways, The Wild Places and Mountains of the Mind . His work has been translated into more than thirty languages, won prizes around the world, and been widely adapted for film, music, theatre, radio and dance. He has also written operas, plays and films and collaborated closely with artists including Olafur Eliasson and Stanley Donwood. He is a Professor of Literature and the Environmental Humanities at the…
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