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SUMMARY:Empire and nature in New Zealand: theologies of nature and natural
  theologies\, 1830-1920 (based on joint research with John Stenhouse) - Ja
 mes Beattie\, Otago University
DTSTART:20060529T120000Z
DTEND:20060529T131500Z
UID:TALK5006@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Francis Lucian Reid
DESCRIPTION:Many colonial environmental historians continue to largely tak
 e for granted the perspective articulated by historian Lynn White\, Jr. wh
 ose 1967 article identified Western Christianity\, 'the most anthropocentr
 ic of\nall religions\,' as bearing 'a huge burden of guilt' for the modern
  ecological crisis. By incorporating insights drawn from recent scholarshi
 p in the history of science and gender and imperial history\, this talk us
 es\nthe case-study of New Zealand to question the orthodox view that\, by 
 the nineteenth century\, Judeo-Christian traditions were either pass and i
 rrelevant or intentionally and maliciously destructive in colonial\nsociet
 ies. We argue against the former view by showing the significance of relig
 ious traditions in shaping attitudes and policies towards land use and\nth
 e natural world. Secondly\, we contend that historians have grossly misund
 erstood settler Christianity. We maintain that although New Zealand's sett
 lers certainly used Biblical ideas to justify transforming the\nlandscape\
 , they regarded swamp draining\, acclimatisation\, agriculture and horticu
 lture as transformative processes that would improve and enhance the natur
 al world\, not destroy it. While many later colonists came to regret some 
 of the consequences of their environmental actions and while it is\nundoub
 tedly true that their environmental legacy is mixed\, settlers did not int
 end to destroy New Zealand's environment. Furthermore\, rather than\nviewi
 ng forest clearance and cultivation as the polar opposite to appreciation 
 and protection as New Zealand's environmental historians have done\, we ar
 gue that they should be viewed as complementary.\nBiblically-sanctioned no
 tions of human dominion did not grant settlers carte blanche to destroy en
 vironments as is amply evidenced in our article. Similarly\, the emphasis 
 placed upon making land productive equally\njustified conservation strateg
 ies such as tree planting and forest conservation and land transformations
  such as swamp draining and sowing seed.\n\nJames Beattie's doctoral thesi
 s explored global connections between health\, aesthetics\, environment an
 d conservation in nineteenth century New Zealand.\nHis current research co
 nsiders comparative environmental history in general\, and the interaction
  between science and religious belief in environmental perception.\n
LOCATION:Seminar Room 1\, Department of History and Philosophy of Science
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