1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910815800603321

Autore

Anderson Deb

Titolo

Endurance : Australian stories of drought / / Deb Anderson

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Collingwood, Victoria : , : Csiro Publishing, , [2014]

©2014

ISBN

1-4863-0122-3

1-4863-0121-5

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (256 p.)

Disciplina

362.1096773

Soggetti

Droughts - Social aspects - Australia

Climatic changes - Social aspects - Australia

Rural population - Victoria - Mallee - Social conditions

Rural conditions

Mallee (Vic.) Social conditions

Mallee (Vic.) Rural conditions

Australia Rural conditions

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Cover; Contents; Preface and acknowledgements; Introduction; Map showing interview sites; CLIMATE, CULTURE AND CONTEXT; One: Drought as a cultural concept; Endurance: a test of character; Mediating rurality: a defining story of national identity; What of the experience of drought?; Two: Redefining drought; Rural drought: the overarching context; Myths of nature; Climate cycles and the legacy of weather lore; Australian drought science: early developments; Deciles and the statistical regulation of drought; El Niño and the rise of climate prediction; The evolution of Australian drought policy

Drought as a natural disasterDrought as a production risk; Drought policy as a tool of rural adjustment; Exceptional Circumstances; Positioning subjects: discourse of risk and self-reliance; The political economy of drought; Three: Making histories in the Mallee; A history of Mallee exceptionalism; Exodus, 'excess' and economic strife; Of memory and oral history in the Mallee; Drought 'makes who we are';



Dwelling in uncertainty; Listening for change; 'We'll all be rooned': how narrative sets up its own ending; Definitional struggles; ORAL HISTORIES OF DROUGHT

Four: Survival, making sense of crisis and 'making do'Andrea Hogan: 'drought' as a loss of people who want theirstory heard; Robert and Yvonne McClelland with Bev Cook: on crisis andhistorical continuity; Greg and Dot Brown: 'we become Mallee farmers through the weather'; Pam Elliott: remembering 'the way things were'; Concluding remarks; Five: Reconciling uncertainty, cycles and change; Brent and Melissa Morrish: 'what the Powers That Be don't see'; Lynne Healy and Gwen Cooke: innovative ways to reach peoplein need; Maree, Des and Andrew Ryan: cycles of climate, grim humourand hope

Robert, Merle and Michael Pole: between bare ground and thebank accountConcluding remarks; Six: Adaptation in response to climatic risk; Ivan Mock: drought and the language of risk; Jim Maynard: 'we can't let climate change become a negative'; Ben and Noreen Jones: signs of economy and evolution; Hubie Sheldon: awaiting a 'new generation of pioneers'; Concluding remarks; Conclusion; Works cited; Index

Sommario/riassunto

Endurance presents stories of ordinary Australians grappling with extraordinary circumstances, providing insight into their lives, their experiences with drought and their perceptions of climate change.The book opens with the physical impacts, science, politics and economics of drought and climate change in rural Australia. It then highlights the cultural and historical dimensions - taking us to the Mallee wheat-belt, where researcher Deb Anderson interviewed farm families from 2004 to 2007, as climate change awareness grew. Each story is grouped into one of three themes: Survival, Uncertainty