Heather Swanson: "Creatures of the Lines: Engaging the Ecologies of British Canals through an Art-Science-Anthropol..."

Creatures of the Lines: Engaging the Ecologies of British Canals through an Art-Science-Anthropology Collaboration

Abstract

This talk – based on collaborative work with London-based artist Sonia Levy – focuses on British inland transportation canals and the assemblages of species that now dwell within them, including a number of invasive species. These canals, which came to criss-cross England from the late 18th century onwards, were part of a vast project of ecological globalization. As arteries of the British Empire, the canals linked Indian cotton fields to domestic textile mills, facilitating vast ecological transformations from monoculture agriculture in the colonies to industrial discharges in England’s waters, soils, and air. Today, the canals continue to embody transnational connections, as they provide pathways and habitats for the growing number of non-native aquatic species brought to the region via industrial shipping lines.

Focusing on the material form of the canals, their entanglement with trade, and…