Centre for Arts and Well-Being: Visit to Knepp

Date: 24 June 2025

Time: 10am- 3pm

Location: Knepp wildland (TBC)

Sign-up required, see information at the bottom of this post.

Open to all CAW members with a limited number of funded places available for ECR and PGR members.

Meet at Knepp or taxi pick up and drop off from the University Campus (location to be confirmed)

The land we roam

The episteme we rove

Interconnected.

Our endeavour to Rewild our Selves and our academic Work often follows the story of initial curiosity and bewilderment, followed by resistance: internal and systemic; that gives way to cautiously optimistic, trepidatious exploration. Only if we can get past these initial phases, can we experience the joys of immersion- rewilding/rebuilding our selves and our work more in alignment with our surroundings.

The story of Knepp is similar- from a farm that was deemed barely profitable to a rewilding success story with plenty of challenges overcome along the way.

In a visit to Knepp, we aim to admire what can be achieved through the process of rewilding. The fields of Knepp provide the landscape where the metaphoric rewildings of our collective episteme can be projected. We think about how, in pursuit of certain forms of excellence, our episteme and the environment that surround us have been sterilised.

We witness how Knepp has demonstrated that this sterilisation can be reversed with at least some success: Knepp has persisted with rewilding and emerged ‘on the other side’. We hope to be inspired by what their rewilding looks and feels like. We take this inspiration back into our epistemic world where we reflect on the question- What would my epistemic world look like if I allowed it to rewild beyond my initial apprehensions? What fields am I over-farming that need to be allowed to rewild?

A field trip in it’s literal sense, the landscape inspires and encourages us to visualise a reality that could exist beyond our fears of rewilding. For further information, please contact event lead Gaurish Chawla at G.Chawla@bsms.ac.uk

Suggested pre learning-

Video- https://youtu.be/0JpilefdeBc?feature=shared

Reading- https://www.rewildingbritain.org.uk/why-rewild/rewilding-success-stories/case-studies/knepp-estate

Extended read paperback- https://www.kneppwildrangemeat.co.uk/homeware/p/wilding-by-isabella-tree-paperback

Attendees are encouraged to bring your note taking medium of choice as well as water and snacks as appropriate. Please check the accessibility guidance here https://knepp.co.uk/visit-knepp/accessibility-guide/

Tentative Programme-

Taxi pick up for those taking taxis- 9:30 am from University of Brighton Campus (pick up point to be confirmed)

Arrival at Knepp: 10 am

Exploring together: Discursive walk- 10am-2pm.

Discursive Lunch at Knepp Kitchen: 2pm-3pm.

Departure from Knepp: 3pm.

Please RSVP by 12 June 2025 midday to CentreforArtsandWellbeing@brighton.ac.uk with KNEPP in your subject line and with the following information:

• Name
• Any accessibility requirements to be forwarded to Knepp
• Membership status with CAW (staff, PGR, ECR, etc.)
• If you prefer to make your own way to Knepp or would like to join in the taxi from campus.