Trying to thank people who have been a part of the past three years while also teetering on the brink of the word limit is a difficult task. Nevertheless, it cannot be ignored. What an immense pleasure it was to research and write this thesis. Not often does one love every day of work and love it more as years progress. I picked something wonderful to research. However, my supervisor Professor Emma Lees is largely responsible for why the three years were kind to me. Emma is a brilliant scholar and a wonderful human being. It was an honour to be supervised by her. It is rare to encounter such kindness, warmth, and generosity that she has shown me. I turned out to be a better scholar at the end of it. More than that, I have also turned out to be a better person. I owe much to her. I am grateful to my second supervisor, Professor Shaun Larcom, whose cordiality, compassion, and friendship is treasured. Both my supervisors taught me during my MPhil degree, and I am glad they have seen me through a wonderful time.
I tremendously admire the Environmental Defenders Office of Australia. I am grateful for their brilliance and persistence in fighting for the environment, particularly at the intersections of Indigenous and environmental rights. It is so heartening to see a group of phenomenally gifted lawyers really care and work relentlessly to make the nation a better place. I had the pleasure of speaking with some of them during the early days of my PhD. Special thanks to David Morris, Matt Floro, Nadja Zimmermann, and Elaine Johnson.
I was fortunate to have some very good conversations with Justice Brian Preston and scholar Dr Judith Preston. I am grateful for their kindness and helpful advice during my research. Many thanks to David Estrin, Greg McDade, Judge Bruno Carra, and Maria Augusta Paim (also a very good friend!) for their help navigating through Canada and Brazil, respectively.
The National Centre for Indigenous Studies, Australian National University, hosted me during my fieldwork. The Black Summer of 2019-2020 was unkind to all. However, I was overwhelmed by the reception and care of scholars at Canberra, especially under those circumstances. A lot of my thesis changed, thanks to the fieldwork. I changed! I will always be indebted to the lovely people of Canberra—Professor Asmi Wood, Julia Wee, Montserrat Alvarez, Adam Delaney, Gareth Knapman, Dave Johnston, Ed Wensing, Aunty Mathilda House, and Katherine Aigner (who also happens to be my dearest friend). Special thanks to David Schlosberg and Harry Hobbs, who has helped me in more ways than I can comprehend.
Now, there is a large gathering of friends and academics—I should have liked to say something very specific, but I will be content just by naming them and thanking them:
Gavin Smith (and the snakes!), Danielle Celermajer, Sophie Chao, Christine Winter, Kate Fitzpatrick, Philippa Bateman, Gareth Bryant, Adam David Morton, Paul Keil, Sue Reid, Jamie Wang, Astrida Neimanis, Megan Davis, Douglas MacDonald, Peter Burdon, Marc Hudson, Stephen Downes (and the birds!), Nicholas Stump, Joshua Bowman, Adrian Gomez, Teresa Mexia, Christine-Marié, Kari De Pryck, Nanase Shirota, Jacob Phelps and the Alston collective, Laurence Cox, Alf Nielsen, Rahul Ranjan, Suhas Sagar, Tanvi Bhatkal, Tiina Paloniitty, Jaakko Husa, Rachelle Chadwick, Kai Heron, Max Ajl, Alex Heffron, Vladimir Bogoeski, Lisa Tilley, Ingrid Kvangraven, Ilias Alami, Hendrik Vollmer, Shailaja Fennel, Poorna & Anup Mysuru, Carolina Alves, Joe Davidson, Louis Klee, Lee Gorton, Sam Wajid, and Tom Wakeford.
I spent much of the PhD in the Department of Geography. The time was well spent—I met many friends and found life delightful in their company. Many thanks to Ulf Büntgen, Paul Krusic, Alma, Alan, Giada, Alexander Cullen, Mia Gray, and the whole coffee time contingent. Especially grateful to Robert Carter, Yasmiena and Peter Jones.
Some friends become a resting place for your thoughts and everyday life. What I owe to them is quite beyond words. It is very kind of you and your families to join this journey. Here is to—Jana Bacevic, Solange Manche, Amelia Bonea, Sria Chatterjee, Siby, Hua Wang, Guy Jackson, Francis Markham and Eddie Synot.
I think I owe much to Australian movies and TV series, without which this thesis would have been completed three months sooner. But who would want such a vapid life? Our small Australian film club has truly enriched my life and seems to offer more as the months pass by. Many cheers to the joyful bunch–Stephen, Mark, Bart, Gary, Simon, Laila, Amanda, Gabrielle, Anna & Jonathan, and Isabella.
The environment held me together. My world is filled with birds, insects, animals—big and small. I find peace in the vastness of the land. The Indigenous scholarship taught me to live. I am grateful for all of that. Finally, I thank my parents, who have sacrificed everything to get me here today. I hope they will be proud to see this work.
Defiant Ecologies 