Introduction: Approaching the Australian blue humanities – from entanglements to Sea Country

This introduction engages the blue humanities in relation to Australian waters. In the contexts of a history of colonisation and a developing crisis of climate change, this introduction explores how the blue humanities can be used to illuminate Australia’s entangled relationships with water. It offers a brief introduction to the blue humanities, including a focus on the critical concept of ‘entanglements’, before turning to Australian manifestations of the blue, from the ‘big wet’ and ‘big dry’ to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ understanding of Sea Country. The introduction frames this transdisciplinary collection as a means to better understand the impact of climate change on the blue through creativity, art, history, storytelling, and disciplines from the social sciences and humanities. This collection emphasises an inclusive blue humanities approach, engaging with multiple representations of water – oceanic and beyond – as well as watery ways of thinking. Throughout, the introduction recognises the multiplicity of the Australian blue and the complex interaction between humans, more-than-humans, histories, and place in the Australian blue humanities. The introduction advocates for the blue humanities as a means to contribute to a better understanding of human relationships with the blue in Australia.