Working with Nature in Aotearoa New Zealand : : An Ethnography of Coastal Protection / / Friederike Gesing.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter DG Plus eBook-Package 2016
• VerfasserIn: Gesing, Friederike,
• Place / Publishing House: Bielefeld : : transcript Verlag, , [2016]; ©2016
• Year of Publication: 2016
• Language: English
• Series: Kultur und soziale Praxis
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (356 p.)

Working with nature - and not against it - is a global trend in coastal management. This ethnography of coastal protection follows the increasingly popular approach of "soft" protection to the Aotearoa New Zealand coast. Friederike Gesing analyses a political controversy over hard and soft protection measures, and introduces a growing community of practice involved in projects of working with nature. Dune restoration volunteers, coastal management experts, surfer-scientists, and Maori conservationists are engaged in projects ranging from do-it-yourself erosion control, to the reconstruction of native nature, and soft engineering "in concert with natural processes". With soft protection, Gesing argues, we can witness a new sociotechnical imaginary in the making.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Table of Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction and Outline -- Part I: Introducing Ethnography to Coastal Naturecultures -- 1. Working with Nature, Working with Water: A Globalized Imaginary -- 2. Natureculture Imaginaries -- 3. The Context of the Coast -- Part II: Beyond Hard Protection? The Waihi Beach Case -- 4. Historical Transect of a Coastal Protection Conflict -- 5. Possible Futures -- Part III: Material Practices of Working with Nature, or: Making Coastal Naturecultures -- 6. Restoring and Maintaining Nature: An Introduction to Coast Care -- 7. Working with Nature, Working with Communities -- 8. "It's a Frontline of Defence" - Dune Restoration as Soft Protection -- 9. Reconstructing Native Nature -- 10. Understanding Nature, Making Waves: Multipurpose Reefs -- Conclusion: Working with Nature, Making Coastal Naturecultures -- Bibliography -- List of Interviews -- Table of Figures