Introduction

Theresa Dearden is an interdisciplinary geographer working in spatial practice: how communities know, name and represent the places they live in, and how those representations travel into decision-making. Her curiosity about place, space and positionality was sparked by a childhood fascination with the relationships between nature and culture while growing up on Vancouver Island, Canada.

She has spent over a decade as a participatory mapping and development practitioner, from environmental risk assessment in post-disaster settings to three years in Papua New Guinea working with Indigenous communities on protected area management and micro-business development.

Theresa currently lives and works in Vientiane, Laos.