Whose Wilderness: Scottish Connections to Land

In 2019, seeking to better understand the reality of rewilding, and the thinking behind it, Jenna Watt took part in the stalking of a hind in the Highlands. Her book Hindsight tells the story of this day, interweaving family history and enquiries into the rewilding movement, asking essential questions about what ‘wildness’ means.

For the final event of a festival that’s revolved largely around place and our relationships to them, we’re delighted to host a conversation about the most basics of any place: the land itself, and who among us is free to inhabit it, to live off it, and to make decisions about it. Who among us, even, has the power to determine what ‘wildness’ is.

Our speaker and chair:

Jenna Watt is a multi-award-winning theatre maker. In 2016, her award-winning Edinburgh Fringe play Faslane was published by Oberon books, now Methuen Drama, which led to her presenting Nukes, Subs and Secrets, a piece of factual television with Hopscotch productions for BBC Scotland. In 2017, she undertook an MSc in Sustainable Rural Development with the University of Highlands and Islands. Since graduating, she became the recipient of Magnetic North Theatre’s Artist Attachment for 18 months, where she continued to develop her understanding of performative approaches to ecofeminism, rewilding and land management practices in Scotland.

Sam Staddon is a feminist political ecologist committed to environmental and social justice. She is a Senior Lecturer in Environment and Development