Meg Sherval
Biographic Data
| ID | 305618 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Meg Sherval |
| GIVEN NAMES | Meg |
| FAMILY NAME | Sherval |
| SIGNATURE | SHERVAL M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Newcastle Australia |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-0740-3542 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 19 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 110 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 19 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Presence, Absence and Ongoing Legacy: Mining Voids, Transition and Post-Industrial Futures in the Hunter Valley, Nsw, Australia
Debates about mining and its impacts on society, health and the environment have long existed. In more recent times, mining’s temporality and increased discussion about degraded landscapes have seen the emergence of theoretical ideas like the ‘minescape’ (Burtynsky 2009), the ‘anti-landscape’ (Nye, 2007), and abstractions such as ‘presence and absence’ also being considered (Jones et al, 2012; Tjandra 2023). This paper responds to and builds upon…
The emotional geographies of a coal mining transition: A case study of Singleton, New South Wales, Australia
The transition required to remove coal from the global energy mix will have major implications across coal producing regions.There is limited work, however, that explores how this transition is being received by communities with multi-generational connections to the industry.This paper explores understandings and responses to transition in the Australian community of Singleton.Located 145 km north of Sydney in the Upper Hunter Valley, the local a…
Community resistance and the role of justice in shale gas development in the United Kingdom
Global energy policies embracing a transition to unconventional oil and gas development are hallmarks of many developed nations. Among these, the United Kingdom has framed the development of shale gas as one means to transition from high-carbon fossil-fuel consumption to low-carbon alternatives. Yet the introduction of this industry and recent legislation associated with it have not been without controversy. Communities throughout the United King…
Becoming Reading Group: Reflections on assembling a collegiate, caring collective
In neoliberalising universities, collegial and collective practices such as reading groups are often positioned by students, staff and managers as less important than meeting individual KPIs (such as producing research publications, seeking research grants, or meeting the increasing demands of producing quality teaching outcomes.) However, reading groups can be vital for cultivating caring collectives and spaces of collegiality. In this paper we …
Stewart Williams—1964–2019
Stewart Williams was a man who stood tall, not only in stature but in life. He was someone who had an extraordinary thirst for life and an intellectual appetite that knew no bounds. He was witty an
The local politics of rural land use: Place, extraction industries and narratives of contemporary rurality
This article contributes to discussions of place and social change in rural sociology with a focus on the local politics of rural land use. In particular, the article explores the way that one rural place is responding to changes in the local and regional economy connected with the arrival of extractive industries such as mining and coal seam gas (CSG). The article shows how attitudes towards extractive industries are formed through notions of pl…
Affect, risk and local politics of knowledge: Changing land use in Narrabri, NSW
As conflicts emerge over land use when extractive industries arrive, what counts as legitimate knowledge about the risks generated by these developments becomes important to how individuals formulate their opinions. This article analyses knowledge, risk and perceptions of future land use in the Narrabri Shire, a rural area in Australia. In a risk society, especially a ‘post-truth’ one, the production of knowledge, whether scientific, political, m…
If You Lose Your Youth, You Lose Your Heart and Your Future: Affective Figures of Youth in Community Tensions Surrounding a Proposed Coal Seam Gas Project
The article discusses the tensions regarding the challenge to balance agriculture with a proposed coal seam gas mine in Narrabri, a regional centre in New South Wales, Australia, which revolved around notions of youth and 'the future'. 'Youth' as a symbolic category were positioned at the heart of the issues associated with land-use in the region on both sides of the debate. Young people were described throughout the study as an abstract symbol o…
Value, Identity and Place: Unearthing the emotional geographies of the extractive sector
The practice of natural resource extraction remains a key function of the global economy, and has been the subject of a considerable body of research, across multiple academic disciplines. Growing awareness of the economic, socio-cultural and ecological aspects of extractive practices (and their impacts) have also forced change in the way in which this research is conceptualised. Yet, despite conceptual shifts, a lack of engagement with the felt …
Exploring the minescape: Engaging with the complexity of the extractive sector
This paper introduces the concept of the minescape as a conceptual and imaginative tool through which to integrate and represent growing shifts in the way natural resource extraction is understood. In recent years, traditional perceptions of extractive processes as ‘natural’ and purely economic in nature have been increasingly challenged by new developments within the fields of human geography and anthropology. Likewise, growing insights into the…
Canada's oil sands: The mark of a new ‘oil age’ or a potential threat to Arctic security
Competing Perceptions of the Rural Idyll: Responses to threats from coal seam gas development in Gloucester, NSW, Australia
Threats to rural livelihoods and rural landscapes have increased over time as developed nations in particular look for cheaper and more locally based alternatives to traditional energy sources to drive national economies. In New South Wales, through the expansion of coal mines and coal seam gas (CSG), small towns such as Gloucester on the edge of the Upper Hunter are faced with competing visions which seek to redefine their future. Powerful and c…
Arctic Alaska's role in future United States energy independence
For decades, Arctic Alaska has provided US mainland states with plentiful oil supplies. As reserves in the Prudhoe Bay fields decrease, however, the USA has been forced to consider new options to guarantee the nation's energy security. While debates continue to rage about its reliance on foreign oil, increased prices, consumption levels, and climate change, the USA is now contemplating whether predicted new discoveries might actually allow it to …
Missing the Connection: How SRLU Policy Fragments Landscapes and Communities in NSW
In late 2010, the Environmental Defenders Office ('EDO') released a report on the state of planning law in NSW. It suggested that detailed analysis 'revealed a failure of the current system to balance social and environmental considerations against the Government's desired economic and statistical outcomes.' In 2012, responding to widespread community opposition to coal seam gas ('CSG') mining in rural and regional NSW, the O'Farrell government d…
Legal Geography: An Australian Perspective
Law is a powerful influence on people and place. Law both creates and is created by the relationship between people and place, although it rarely acknowledges this. Law frequently operates as if space does not matter. Law and legal processes, therefore, deserve greater attention from geographers. Legal geography is an emerging field of inquiry that facilitates much-needed attention to the interrelationships among the environment, people and socia…
Short‐Term Emergency or Recurring Climatic Extreme: A Rural Town Perspective on Drought Policy and Programs
Drought is most often encountered as a long‐running and recurring climatic extreme; one that can have devastating environmental, social and economic impacts. While drought is a routine feature of the Australian climate, the politics of drought are often highly reactive, and drought support programs are notoriously ad hoc and ineffective. In the context of emergent global recognition of climate change, drought has received renewed political attent…
Experiencing ‘drought and more’: Local responses from rural Victoria, Australia
Drought-proofing’ Regional Australia and the Rhetoric Surrounding Tillegra Dam, NSW
Water conservation, distribution and management are highly contested in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales. During the height of the Millennium drought calls from local politicians and community leaders alike suggested that there was a need to ‘drought-proof’ not only the Hunter region but also the Australian continent from recurring climatic events. In response to this, Hunter Water Corporation framed its long-term sustainable water policies a…
Native Alaskan engagement with social constructions of rurality
Legal Geography: An Australian Perspective
Law is a powerful influence on people and place. Law both creates and is created by the relationship between people and place, although it rarely acknowledges this. Law frequently operates as if space does not matter. Law and legal processes, therefore, deserve greater attention from geographers. Legal geography is an emerging field of inquiry that facilitates much-needed attention to the interrelationships among the environment, people and socia…
Exploring the minescape: Engaging with the complexity of the extractive sector
This paper introduces the concept of the minescape as a conceptual and imaginative tool through which to integrate and represent growing shifts in the way natural resource extraction is understood. In recent years, traditional perceptions of extractive processes as ‘natural’ and purely economic in nature have been increasingly challenged by new developments within the fields of human geography and anthropology. Likewise, growing insights into the…
Competing Perceptions of the Rural Idyll: Responses to threats from coal seam gas development in Gloucester, NSW, Australia
Threats to rural livelihoods and rural landscapes have increased over time as developed nations in particular look for cheaper and more locally based alternatives to traditional energy sources to drive national economies. In New South Wales, through the expansion of coal mines and coal seam gas (CSG), small towns such as Gloucester on the edge of the Upper Hunter are faced with competing visions which seek to redefine their future. Powerful and c…
Affect, risk and local politics of knowledge: Changing land use in Narrabri, NSW
As conflicts emerge over land use when extractive industries arrive, what counts as legitimate knowledge about the risks generated by these developments becomes important to how individuals formulate their opinions. This article analyses knowledge, risk and perceptions of future land use in the Narrabri Shire, a rural area in Australia. In a risk society, especially a ‘post-truth’ one, the production of knowledge, whether scientific, political, m…
Missing the Connection: How SRLU Policy Fragments Landscapes and Communities in NSW
In late 2010, the Environmental Defenders Office ('EDO') released a report on the state of planning law in NSW. It suggested that detailed analysis 'revealed a failure of the current system to balance social and environmental considerations against the Government's desired economic and statistical outcomes.' In 2012, responding to widespread community opposition to coal seam gas ('CSG') mining in rural and regional NSW, the O'Farrell government d…
Native Alaskan engagement with social constructions of rurality
Value, Identity and Place: Unearthing the emotional geographies of the extractive sector
The practice of natural resource extraction remains a key function of the global economy, and has been the subject of a considerable body of research, across multiple academic disciplines. Growing awareness of the economic, socio-cultural and ecological aspects of extractive practices (and their impacts) have also forced change in the way in which this research is conceptualised. Yet, despite conceptual shifts, a lack of engagement with the felt …
Experiencing ‘drought and more’: Local responses from rural Victoria, Australia
Community resistance and the role of justice in shale gas development in the United Kingdom
Global energy policies embracing a transition to unconventional oil and gas development are hallmarks of many developed nations. Among these, the United Kingdom has framed the development of shale gas as one means to transition from high-carbon fossil-fuel consumption to low-carbon alternatives. Yet the introduction of this industry and recent legislation associated with it have not been without controversy. Communities throughout the United King…
The local politics of rural land use: Place, extraction industries and narratives of contemporary rurality
This article contributes to discussions of place and social change in rural sociology with a focus on the local politics of rural land use. In particular, the article explores the way that one rural place is responding to changes in the local and regional economy connected with the arrival of extractive industries such as mining and coal seam gas (CSG). The article shows how attitudes towards extractive industries are formed through notions of pl…
Canada's oil sands: The mark of a new ‘oil age’ or a potential threat to Arctic security
Becoming Reading Group: Reflections on assembling a collegiate, caring collective
In neoliberalising universities, collegial and collective practices such as reading groups are often positioned by students, staff and managers as less important than meeting individual KPIs (such as producing research publications, seeking research grants, or meeting the increasing demands of producing quality teaching outcomes.) However, reading groups can be vital for cultivating caring collectives and spaces of collegiality. In this paper we …
Short‐Term Emergency or Recurring Climatic Extreme: A Rural Town Perspective on Drought Policy and Programs
Drought is most often encountered as a long‐running and recurring climatic extreme; one that can have devastating environmental, social and economic impacts. While drought is a routine feature of the Australian climate, the politics of drought are often highly reactive, and drought support programs are notoriously ad hoc and ineffective. In the context of emergent global recognition of climate change, drought has received renewed political attent…
Stewart Williams—1964–2019
Stewart Williams was a man who stood tall, not only in stature but in life. He was someone who had an extraordinary thirst for life and an intellectual appetite that knew no bounds. He was witty an
If You Lose Your Youth, You Lose Your Heart and Your Future: Affective Figures of Youth in Community Tensions Surrounding a Proposed Coal Seam Gas Project
The article discusses the tensions regarding the challenge to balance agriculture with a proposed coal seam gas mine in Narrabri, a regional centre in New South Wales, Australia, which revolved around notions of youth and 'the future'. 'Youth' as a symbolic category were positioned at the heart of the issues associated with land-use in the region on both sides of the debate. Young people were described throughout the study as an abstract symbol o…
Drought-proofing’ Regional Australia and the Rhetoric Surrounding Tillegra Dam, NSW
Water conservation, distribution and management are highly contested in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales. During the height of the Millennium drought calls from local politicians and community leaders alike suggested that there was a need to ‘drought-proof’ not only the Hunter region but also the Australian continent from recurring climatic events. In response to this, Hunter Water Corporation framed its long-term sustainable water policies a…
Native Alaskan engagement with social constructions of rurality
Short‐Term Emergency or Recurring Climatic Extreme: A Rural Town Perspective on Drought Policy and Programs
Drought is most often encountered as a long‐running and recurring climatic extreme; one that can have devastating environmental, social and economic impacts. While drought is a routine feature of the Australian climate, the politics of drought are often highly reactive, and drought support programs are notoriously ad hoc and ineffective. In the context of emergent global recognition of climate change, drought has received renewed political attent…
Experiencing ‘drought and more’: Local responses from rural Victoria, Australia
Drought-proofing’ Regional Australia and the Rhetoric Surrounding Tillegra Dam, NSW
Water conservation, distribution and management are highly contested in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales. During the height of the Millennium drought calls from local politicians and community leaders alike suggested that there was a need to ‘drought-proof’ not only the Hunter region but also the Australian continent from recurring climatic events. In response to this, Hunter Water Corporation framed its long-term sustainable water policies a…
Arctic Alaska's role in future United States energy independence
For decades, Arctic Alaska has provided US mainland states with plentiful oil supplies. As reserves in the Prudhoe Bay fields decrease, however, the USA has been forced to consider new options to guarantee the nation's energy security. While debates continue to rage about its reliance on foreign oil, increased prices, consumption levels, and climate change, the USA is now contemplating whether predicted new discoveries might actually allow it to …
Missing the Connection: How SRLU Policy Fragments Landscapes and Communities in NSW
In late 2010, the Environmental Defenders Office ('EDO') released a report on the state of planning law in NSW. It suggested that detailed analysis 'revealed a failure of the current system to balance social and environmental considerations against the Government's desired economic and statistical outcomes.' In 2012, responding to widespread community opposition to coal seam gas ('CSG') mining in rural and regional NSW, the O'Farrell government d…
Legal Geography: An Australian Perspective
Law is a powerful influence on people and place. Law both creates and is created by the relationship between people and place, although it rarely acknowledges this. Law frequently operates as if space does not matter. Law and legal processes, therefore, deserve greater attention from geographers. Legal geography is an emerging field of inquiry that facilitates much-needed attention to the interrelationships among the environment, people and socia…
Competing Perceptions of the Rural Idyll: Responses to threats from coal seam gas development in Gloucester, NSW, Australia
Threats to rural livelihoods and rural landscapes have increased over time as developed nations in particular look for cheaper and more locally based alternatives to traditional energy sources to drive national economies. In New South Wales, through the expansion of coal mines and coal seam gas (CSG), small towns such as Gloucester on the edge of the Upper Hunter are faced with competing visions which seek to redefine their future. Powerful and c…
Canada's oil sands: The mark of a new ‘oil age’ or a potential threat to Arctic security
Exploring the minescape: Engaging with the complexity of the extractive sector
This paper introduces the concept of the minescape as a conceptual and imaginative tool through which to integrate and represent growing shifts in the way natural resource extraction is understood. In recent years, traditional perceptions of extractive processes as ‘natural’ and purely economic in nature have been increasingly challenged by new developments within the fields of human geography and anthropology. Likewise, growing insights into the…
Value, Identity and Place: Unearthing the emotional geographies of the extractive sector
The practice of natural resource extraction remains a key function of the global economy, and has been the subject of a considerable body of research, across multiple academic disciplines. Growing awareness of the economic, socio-cultural and ecological aspects of extractive practices (and their impacts) have also forced change in the way in which this research is conceptualised. Yet, despite conceptual shifts, a lack of engagement with the felt …
The local politics of rural land use: Place, extraction industries and narratives of contemporary rurality
This article contributes to discussions of place and social change in rural sociology with a focus on the local politics of rural land use. In particular, the article explores the way that one rural place is responding to changes in the local and regional economy connected with the arrival of extractive industries such as mining and coal seam gas (CSG). The article shows how attitudes towards extractive industries are formed through notions of pl…
Affect, risk and local politics of knowledge: Changing land use in Narrabri, NSW
As conflicts emerge over land use when extractive industries arrive, what counts as legitimate knowledge about the risks generated by these developments becomes important to how individuals formulate their opinions. This article analyses knowledge, risk and perceptions of future land use in the Narrabri Shire, a rural area in Australia. In a risk society, especially a ‘post-truth’ one, the production of knowledge, whether scientific, political, m…
If You Lose Your Youth, You Lose Your Heart and Your Future: Affective Figures of Youth in Community Tensions Surrounding a Proposed Coal Seam Gas Project
The article discusses the tensions regarding the challenge to balance agriculture with a proposed coal seam gas mine in Narrabri, a regional centre in New South Wales, Australia, which revolved around notions of youth and 'the future'. 'Youth' as a symbolic category were positioned at the heart of the issues associated with land-use in the region on both sides of the debate. Young people were described throughout the study as an abstract symbol o…
Stewart Williams—1964–2019
Stewart Williams was a man who stood tall, not only in stature but in life. He was someone who had an extraordinary thirst for life and an intellectual appetite that knew no bounds. He was witty an
Becoming Reading Group: Reflections on assembling a collegiate, caring collective
In neoliberalising universities, collegial and collective practices such as reading groups are often positioned by students, staff and managers as less important than meeting individual KPIs (such as producing research publications, seeking research grants, or meeting the increasing demands of producing quality teaching outcomes.) However, reading groups can be vital for cultivating caring collectives and spaces of collegiality. In this paper we …
Community resistance and the role of justice in shale gas development in the United Kingdom
Global energy policies embracing a transition to unconventional oil and gas development are hallmarks of many developed nations. Among these, the United Kingdom has framed the development of shale gas as one means to transition from high-carbon fossil-fuel consumption to low-carbon alternatives. Yet the introduction of this industry and recent legislation associated with it have not been without controversy. Communities throughout the United King…
The emotional geographies of a coal mining transition: A case study of Singleton, New South Wales, Australia
The transition required to remove coal from the global energy mix will have major implications across coal producing regions.There is limited work, however, that explores how this transition is being received by communities with multi-generational connections to the industry.This paper explores understandings and responses to transition in the Australian community of Singleton.Located 145 km north of Sydney in the Upper Hunter Valley, the local a…
Presence, Absence and Ongoing Legacy: Mining Voids, Transition and Post-Industrial Futures in the Hunter Valley, Nsw, Australia
Debates about mining and its impacts on society, health and the environment have long existed. In more recent times, mining’s temporality and increased discussion about degraded landscapes have seen the emergence of theoretical ideas like the ‘minescape’ (Burtynsky 2009), the ‘anti-landscape’ (Nye, 2007), and abstractions such as ‘presence and absence’ also being considered (Jones et al, 2012; Tjandra 2023). This paper responds to and builds upon…
Political science (16 works) · Geography (14 works) · Sociology (13 works) · Economics (9 works) · Mining and Resource Management (8 works) · Environmental planning (7 works) · Law (7 works) · Law (6 works) · Rural development and sustainability (6 works) · Archaeology (5 works)