Theme: 1. Uneven Geographies, Ecologies, Technologies and Human Futures

Human-riverine interactions in Southeast Asia II

Panel Convenor(s)

• FC

  Freek Colombijn

  Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Netherlands
• SH

  Sarkawi B. Husain

  Universitas Airlangga, Indonesia

Panel Chair(s)

• NN

  Nawiyanto Nawiyanto

  University of Jember, Indonesia

Presenter(s)

• SH

  Sarkawi B. Husain

  Universitas Airlangga, Indonesia
• MV

  Michael G. Vann

  California State University, Sacramento, United States
• NN

  Nawiyanto Nawiyanto

  University of Jember, Indonesia

From the earliest human settlements, rivers have had a major impact on structuring human behaviour in the form urban development patterns, economic activities, and symbolic meanings ascribed to river. The place name of ICAS 13, Surabaya, refers according to a myth to a fight between a crocodile and a shark in the river mouth! In this paper we want to explore the human-riverine interactions, building on the concept of hydro-social cycles proposed by Jamie Linton and Jessica Budds. The panel will focus on human-riverine interactions, not only the way the river has shaped human behaviour, but also how humans have shaped the river. People do not only act on water, but water can be seen as an actant itself. The panel also invites papers using a multi-species approach in which humans no longer necessarily take centre stage. Meanwhile, humans will remain major actors. Issues of governance, pollution, canalization and “normalization” of rivers, flooding, conflicting uses (transportation, entertainment, habitation, agriculture and fishing, discharging waste, and symbolic meanings can all be discussed. The geographical focus of the panel is Southeast Asia.

Presentations:

• 11:15 – 13:00 (GMT+7)

  Mahakam River, enviornmental degradation, and the tears of the surrounding residents
  

  Presenter: Sarkawi B. Husain – Universitas Airlangga
• 11:15 – 13:00 (GMT+7)

  White City, Red River, Black Death: Colonial Urbanism and Pandemic Disease in Hanoi
  

  Presenter: Michael G. Vann – California State University, Sacramento
• 11:15 – 13:00 (GMT+7)

  Shifting Narratives of Rivers in the Indonesian Historiography
  

  Presenter: Nawiyanto Nawiyanto – University of Jember