symposium

Nature, wellbeing and finding our own ‘sacred groves’

envirohistory NZ2 Comments

It was a privilege to be invited to speak at this month’s Urban Water, Urban Culture Symposium, hosted by Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan. This ambitious symposium featured speakers from around the world and across time zones.

Sacred groves, in Japanese, ‘chinju no mori’ are often found associated with Shinto shrines, but are also found widely across Asia.

My presentation focused on the connection between nature and wellbeing, and the potential to find (or even better, create) our own ‘sacred groves’ in or near the places we live. This theme built on a previous envirohistory NZ post ‘Discovering our own sacred groves‘, and drew on my research exploring human-nature relationships in Japan.　

More information on this symposium can be found at this website.

Urban Nature – rethinking water in Japan’s cities

envirohistory NZLeave a comment

I am excited to be reconnecting with my Japanese ‘roots’ by being part of this upcoming symposium thinking about the place of urban streams in Japanese cities, environment and culture.

Upcoming environmental history symposium – register now

envirohistory NZLeave a comment

Paper proposals are now being invited for an upcoming environmental symposium at Otago University, Dunedin: The Colonial World: Elemental Histories  — download flyer —The Colonial World