Water can experience "historical trauma", claims £318,510 taxpayer-funded study

"The waters we interact with today have experienced historical traumas, just as Indigenous Peoples" it reads

Another dark day of austerity!

It turns out that the taxpayer has been funding research into what I can only describe as “water trauma”.

Thanks to the Arts and Humanities Research Council, £318,510 in taxpayer funds was handed to the project: Water justice & youth mental health resilience: co-creating art-based solutions with Alaskan Native and Awajun communities.

I’m sure you’ll agree this is highly useful to British taxpayers.

Its abstract begins:

For Indigenous Peoples, water provides lifeways, subsistence, and has undeniable spiritual significance. Indigenous Peoples are increasingly recognised as global leaders, actively shaping, through their knowledge and wisdom, national and international water policymaking. Yet, for generations, Indigenous Peoples continue to struggle for water justice across the globe, and colonial legacies still have profound effects on Indigenous Peoples' right to self-determination, socioeconomic development, cultural identity and health outcomes.

Water connects generations over time and can do so in both healing and destructive ways, depending on how the various generations interact with it. The waters we interact with today have experienced historical traumas, just as Indigenous Peoples. Traditional and contemporary art is increasingly being used by Indigenous Peoples to promote intergenerational healing by reflecting on their connection to land and water through family histories. Indigenous youth are playing a critical role by connecting with Elders and leading a dialogue through art, to inspire change and design solutions to recover from historical trauma to water and to peoples.

The rest of the abstract continues very much in the same vein, with a bit of free travel rolled in:

We will work with Awajun and Alaskan Native Peoples in Amazonas (Peru) and Alaska (USA) respectively, where members of the project team have long-term established collaborations and trusted relationships with local organisations and communities. The early stages of our project will aim to consolidate a cross-country Indigenous and non-Indigenous partnership, based on mutual trust and understanding. Within the research team and with the communities we will develop a common vision of the collaborative process to support the creation of: (i) a shared understanding of how to talk together; (ii) a shared vision of how to walk together; and (iii) a shared understanding of terms and concepts.

There are a fair few of these (taxpayer-funded) projects, where researchers are needed abroad for their vital work:

Why are we paying for a Bolivian student to "decolonise" Bolivian museums... in Bolivia?

Shame that pensioners have lost their heating allowance, but I think you’ll agree that the money is needed elsewhere:

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