Meet Professor Andrea Gaynor

who is giving one of the Saturday plenary sessions on the History of Growing Food in Cities. Her presentation will be challenging, interesting and very, very relevant. Andrea's also on the panel in the Water session where she will provide a very short history of water in WA. We are really pleased to have her join us and provide us all with understandings of histories.

Her history - At primary school she was both a musician and fascinated by the germination of seeds. Later in high school she was involved in fencing and at university achieved an arts degree. Andrea eventually found a home in environmental history and in 2001 she completed her PHD thesis. Later, she rode a bike through Cambodia, China and Laos before becoming a lecturer in Australian History at UWA.

Andrea is primarily an environmental historian, and while she has pursued various questions relating to the historical relationships between the human and non-human, she has always remained concerned with understanding three main questions: what factors have shaped human dealings with the natural world? How have people changed the environment? And how has environmental change (anthropogenic or otherwise) affected people’s lives?

Her most recent chapter is called ‘Hope in the wasteland: East Perth City Farm’, in C. Fox, L.Layman, B. Oliver, eds, Radical Perth, Militant Fremantle, Black Swan Press, 2017, pp.217-224 (in press).

For further information read here: https://www.smh.com.au/…/from-backyard-bounties-to-council-…

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