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SUMMARY:Practical environmental narratives: managing land in the Falkland 
 Islands (Islas Malvinas) - Bronte Evans Rayward (Department of Geography)
DTSTART:20251027T130000Z
DTEND:20251027T140000Z
UID:TALK237664@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:132391
DESCRIPTION:In this presentation\, I will reflect on the historical develo
 pment of British settler colonial activities on the Falkland Islands (Isla
 s Malvinas) and how these interacted with commodity narratives in the Brit
 ish-claimed Antarctic region. Utilising agricultural research\, local peri
 odicals\, and other archival material\, I will narrate the social and envi
 ronmental impacts of local political uncertainties about landscape managem
 ent and sovereignty\, and its unfolding over a period of time. I will argu
 e that this uncertainty enabled a discourse of pragmatic landscape managem
 ent. This local emphasis on pragmatism in the Islands conflicted with idea
 lism and international cooperation promoted in British Antarctic political
  negotiation from the mid-twentieth century. I examine how these contexts 
 interacted to shape stories of environmental research and conservation in 
 the Falkland Islands. Local interest in the Islands' native environments t
 ransitioned post the 1982 conflict from a hobby to a complex component of 
 local identity. Personalities speaking directly to British Antarctic histo
 ry mediated and influenced this shift\, suggesting the importance of takin
 g a regional and relational perspective. To conclude\, I offer some observ
 ations about the contemporary relationships between environmental conserva
 tion practice and local identity.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 1\, Department of History and Philosophy of Science
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