Peter retired as Professor of Action Research at the
University of Bath in 2009 and is now Emeritus Professor. His major
contribution was to the development of participative approaches to action
research in the human sciences and in management, approaches variously referred
to as “co-operative inquiry”, “participatory action research”, and “action
science” or “action inquiry”. In these forms of experiential action research
all those involved in the inquiry process are co-researchers, contributing both
to the thinking that forms the research endeavour and to the action that is its
subject. He has published widely on co-operative inquiry and action research
and has co-edited the Handbook of Action Research: Participative Inquiry
and Practice. Peter was also a founding faculty member of the MSc in
Responsibility and Business Practice, a pioneering programme designed to
address issues of sustainability and justice in business, drawing on action
research approaches; and led action research projects including Lowcarbonworks,
and inquiry into the adoption of low carbon technologies in industry.
Since retiring Peter has focussed less on action research
and more on “nature writing for an ecology in crisis.” While he values the
‘bright green’ work of creating more sustainable institutions and economic
systems, he believes the root of the sustainability problem is that modern
humans are dangerously anthropocentric; somewhere in the development of
civilization, we started to see ourselves as separate from, rather than part
of, the community of life on Earth. Spindrift:
A wilderness pilgrimage at sea is published in 2014. This narrative non-fiction
book, uses the device of a travel story – a single-handed sailing voyage in the
yacht Coral to the west coast of Ireland in April and June 2011 – to explore
the nature of the human relationship with the ecology of the Earth. He is also co-editing
a collection of responses to the challenge of the Great Turning.
Blog: onthewesternedge.wordpress.com
Twitter: @peterreason
Tell us a little bit
about the genesis of this book, what made you want to write it?
I wanted to write a book that treated serious questions
about sustainability within an entertaining travel narrative, a book that was
not just for the committed ‘greenies’ but for a wider audience. I had finished
an academic career in which I explored issues of sustainability through
teaching and research. I also wanted to reinvent myself, post retirement, as a
writer of creative non-fiction; the books origins were as the final manuscript
for the MA in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University.
As well as a good
description of the basics of sailing, for anyone who doesn’t know about it, it is also a deep
inner journey. How did you go about blending the two? Did you write a
travelogue first or was it an organic process?
It all went together, starting with conversations with my
friend Gwen, who came with me the first week, as we talked together about the
sea, how we experienced its colours and moods, especially at night. Then,
sailing on alone, with no distractions, I found myself getting deeper into a
reflective space, experience the sea and the coast as much as presences in my
world as objective things.
You quote from many,
obviously influential, works in the book, who would you say has had the
greatest influence on your thinking?
Thomas Berry, who was a priest and a cultural historian,
showed me how to link a scientific understanding of the earth and the universe
with a spiritual one. I only met him once, but he was extremely influential,
and in many ways this book is a homage to him
I felt it was a very
rich experience, reading the book, there is a lot packed in there, how was the
writing process – did you create a lot more and cut it down?
A huge amount of editorial process goes into a well-produced
book. My tutors, my writing buddies, my agent and Vala editors all helped me
see what was necessary and what needed to go. For example, a lot of
theory went. My tutor at Bath Spa said I could only use the ideas that I
usually carry around in my head, which stopped it getting too academic. A whole
chapter toward the end of the book was cut. But the essence was the same
throughout
You deliberately set
out to have a conversation with the “more than human” world – do you think it’s
possible to do this in daily life as well?
Of course... but not all the time. One of the things I
am most pleased to discover is that the world so often opens to something wider
and beyond the everyday. There are continual tiny moments where there is
sacredness in the ordinary. The thing is to notice them, stay with them, savour
them, rather than rush onto the next task
I like that you have
a few self-reflective moments about trying to force things like itineraries to
conform when things like weather and tides are not at our beck and call. I know
you explore this more in the book but can you just expand a little here on why
you think we all have this tension within us?
Somewhere in the development of civilization, Western people
started to see themselves as separate from the natural world in which we
evolved and of which we are a part. This leads us to attempt to dominate the
natural world, to see ourselves as against nature. So we build bigger and more
powerful technologies of control, which work for a while, but then come back to
bite is. Climate change arises as a result of our cleverness in harnessing
fossil fuels. But it is going to bite hard, as we can see already from the
flooding and extreme weather we have been having. In a little boat you
have to learn to go with the wind and tides.
Do you feel that a
new chapter of your life has now started, post-pilgrimage?
I am a privileged person. I lead a happy and comfortable
life. But underneath, what dominates my thoughts is the environment catastrophe
to which we are so quickly heading. Not a day passes without my reflecting on
this with a sense of dread. My continual question is, how should we respond? Of
course there are lots of practical things that must be done by individuals,
organizations and governments and international policy. But we must also learn
to fall in love with the world again, engage with its beauty, or we won't have
the spiritual energy to make the changes we need. So I continue to explore
and write about the same kind of questions; that is my contribution,
slight though its effects may be.
What’s next? Are you
going to write more books?
Last summer I sailed my yacht Coral all the way round the
west coast of Ireland to Scotland, blogging as I went
(onthewesternedge.wordpress.com). I am working on another book, taking the same
questions deeper. I am also deeply involved with the Vala Publishing
Cooperative (www.valapublishers.coop) working to publish 'books from a better
world'. We have some great and I think important books due out later this year.
Have you any more pilgrimages
planned?
This summer I am taking Coral round the west coast of
Scotland as part of my next book. I am also interested in the notion of
everyday life as pilgrimage. Can we take the idea of pilgrimage, which is
originally as a religious idea, and applying to our relationship to our world?
In one sentence was is your best piece of advice for
new writers?
Write something, even little, as near to everyday as you
can. Don't edit or change things, let the writing flow out. Go back later and
see how it all fits together. Then edit ruthlessly.
Bristol Book Blog Review
Part travelogue, part inner journey, part deep thought on our place in the world. Peter Reason's book is a delight to read, redolent of the sea which infuses each page. He has thought long and hard and deep on the relationship between human and environment and it is this that shines through in the writing. As well as a brief description of the art of sailing, including the nautical naming conventions, which can be confusing to the landlubber (like me) Reason goes on to describe the outer journey he is taking in an effort to reconnect with the wild. This takes the form of sailing round the Irish coast, partly with a companion, partly alone. Drawing in many influential thinkers into his narrative he explores how we have become out of tune with the wider "more than human" world and discusses his meditations upon why this is so and what it is possible to do about it, at a personal level. Pilgrimages are usually religious experiences but this goes far beyond any "spiritual journey" in the normal sense of the word, being as it is a reconnection with the wider world, rather than any one god or spirit.
Overall - intense, thoughtful, meditative this is a book that you'll want to read and reflect upon, and probably read again
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