| Abstract: | ABSTRACT This article considers how local communities in South Queensland make use of the cultural meanings encoded in water to articulate social connections and notions of belonging. Drawing on recent ethnographic research, it compares the activities of a community catchment group in Brisbane, and participants in a water festival in Maroochydore, exploring how each group engages creatively with local water sources to materialise particular beliefs and values about identity and belonging. Their creative efforts range from conventional attempts to strengthen local community ties through inclusion in catchment management, to more subversive visions, which resist inclusion in the mainstream and promulgate ‘alternative’ social and environmental values. |
