AustLit

I' first met Craig San Roque at a gathering in 1996 on a property called Glastonbell in the Blue Mountains outside of Sydney. Glastonbell had been set up a decade earlier as an eco-spiritual retreat by an eclectic, much loved mystic and devotee of deep ecology, Philip Simpfendorfer. The 1996 event was the first in a series of Sense of Place colloquia organized by John Cameron of the legendary Social Ecology program at UWS. Although most of the participants were academics, John's plan was to depart as far as possible from standard academic protocols and draw participants into a deep shared experience of place. Glastonbell was a rocky wonderland of cliffs, caverns, winding paths and hidden nooks, all with Middle Earth-type names like Dargan's Garden, The Cathedral, Valley of Continents and The Portals. Over a period of 3 - 4 days, our group met at various of these chthonic sites to discuss the conference papers which had been circulated prior to our meeting.'  (Introduction)

'“In this captivating story of a pig and a philosopher, Freya takes up the narratival mode of exposition that has recently engaged philosophers. Her account of Pookie tells of a human person’s love across a huge species boundary. Few pigs have been so fondly and respectfully brought into print. Freya’s philosophical commitment to truth leads her into unfashionable conclusions: pigs are not particularly intelligent, she tells us. On the basis of life with Pookie, she finds pigs to be determined, focussed and insistent, but not demonstrably smart. Having made that point, Freya goes on to provide a vivid account of Pookie’s actual sentience: her sense of self, her joy, her determination, her later dejection, and her capacity for remembrance.” - Deborah Bird Rose

'In Without Animals Life Is Not Worth Living, eco-philosopher Freya Mathews livens up her theme – that the company of animals is indispensable to human existence – by way of the story of an anarchic but irresistible pig.' (Publication summary)

'PAN is a journal publishing articles, short prose pieces and poetry exploring the philosophical, psychological, mythological, religious, and aesthetic underpinnings of sustainability thought, design and practice. PAN aims to foster perspectives that depart from conventional understandings of "nature" and "culture" in order to open alternative pathways of thinking and living ethically and creatively at a time of deepening environmental and social crisis.

'PAN seeks in particular to provide a forum for emerging conversations between indigenous and settler cultures around questions of reinhabitation, especially, but not exclusively, in Australia. Aiming to bridge the gap between activism and the academy, PAN is pitched at a general readership with an interest in creating a new ecological culture of sustainability. Each issue includes scholarly articles which have been subject to independent peer review as well as other contributions selected by the editors.' (Editor's statement)