Document Type
Journal Article
Publication Title
Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space
Volume
7
Issue
1
First Page
189
Last Page
211
Publisher
SAGE
School
Centre for People, Place and Planet / School of Science
RAS ID
60150
Funders
Australian Research Council
Grant Number
ARC Number : DP180103700
Abstract
The postapocalypse as a mobilising discourse for climate action operates largely out of anger over experienced and anticipated injustices as well as paradoxical hope that fuses loss and grief with freed-up solidarities in support of liveable futures. However, negotiating this emotional tension can be both draining and isolating. Here, we examine how white settler populations in Western Australia balance grief and hope in places they hold dear and the role emotions such as sadness, worry, disappointment, joy, and pride play in relational place making. Through an innovative in situ and mobile methodology we call Walking Journeys, we trace how participants navigate their climatic-affective atmospheres and make sense of their agency in changing ‘Places of the Heart’. We find evidence for emotional complexities of solastalgia where pessimistic outlooks for the future are wrapped up in prefigurative visions of a better world. By holding the tension between paralysis and restoration, urban and rural residents explore affective co-existence and differential belonging in their homes and the landscapes around them. We highlight the challenge of enfranchising emotions beyond individuals and conclude by endorsing entangled, reflexive, and (re-)generative responsibilities for hopeful postapocalyptic journeying.
DOI
10.1177/25148486231173202
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Comments
Tschakert, P., du Coudray, C. B., & Horwitz, P. (2023). Walking journeys into everyday climatic-affective atmospheres: The emotional labour of balancing grief and hope. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, 7 (1), 189-211. https://doi.org/10.1177/25148486231173202