“The River Don has a right to thrive in its own right, because it's alive and it's something we should deeply respect” ~ Now Then

As part of our Right to Thrive series on the future rights of nature, we speak to a Sheffield-based researcher who explores the relationship between trauma and the living world.

Dr Joanna Clare Dobson is a writer, researcher, artist and allotment-holder based in Sheffield. Her academic work focuses on the role the more-than-human world plays in narratives around trauma, as well as exploring the intersections between grief and nature.

The sudden death of her seven-year-old brother Simon when Joanna was ten was a formative influence on her work, leading her to look at what goes unsaid in moments of deep loss. This is a theme she carries over to her work on nature, particularly the silences that all-too-often surround the destruction of the living world.

We spoke to her back in February as part of our ongoing Right to Thrive series, which is exploring the future rights of nature here in South Yorkshire alongside the River Dôn Project.

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