Landscape Flashcards
where does the term landscape emerge from?
Anglo- Saxon origins - refers to human made area
16th centurey - german term Landschap
painterly perspective - ‘landscape-painting’
strongly ties to the visual - effects relationship to power
Sauer (1925) and quote
argues that the cultural landscape may be the most important thing in geography
cultural landscape is formed from a specific culture acting upon a natural land
landscape is the ‘basic unit concept of geography’
problems with Sauers theory
Under theorised
too rural based
no power involved
Key geographer in landscape and vision
Cosgrove (1985)
Cosgrove 1985 - explain key argument
visual power given by the landscape = real power humans exert over land as property
landscape is a ‘way of seeing’ a version of the world so that it allows power to appropriate it - creation of illusion in order to gain and maintain control
key purpose of landscape is to present image of order and control and to supress evidence of conflict and tension
Landscape allows a distance from the world- defines relationship with nature
example of landscapes as a ‘way of seeing’ that changes over time
Meaning of landscape change -
wilderness
not wanting to go into the wilderness because will cause harm - influenced by christian theories, landscape needs to be domesticated and wilderness conquered
transformation of how it is valued - has become central to the ‘American character’ in wilderness Americans can ‘find themselves and their true identity’ through hiking - enshrined the wilderness
what does example of Stowe Landscape Gardens show?
Rousseau visited Stowe landscape gardens
look as if natural
nut just as manufactured just les obvious
all views are carefully sculpted
lake used to be octagon shape but was changed
ideas of how a landscape should look are carefully written into the landscape
define palimpest
cultures have brought different layers to landscape over time
3 levels of understanding landscape
- landscape as material
- landscape as Text
- Landscape as performance/feeling
ANT theorists and landscape
Landscapes are not simply out there to be found they are dynamic relational constructs that are brought into being through interactions and negotiations of human and non human actors
landscapes are Both material and symbolic , constantly shaped contested and performed as networks of relationships evolve over time
what is actor network theory?
views all things in the social and natural worlds as part of constantly shifting networks of relationships
explain landscapes as Texts
landscapes can be treated as texts
landscapes are not neutral often reflect the interests of the dominant group
2 ways can be seen as texts:
1. landscapes can be represented as texts
2. landscapes can be read as texts
landscape should not be separated from perspective
what does considering non-visual senses do for understanding of landscape?
Broadens understanding - more than mere visual backdrop
lived experiences shaped by the individual and collective histories of people
question the dominance of the perspectival view explore more inclusive and diverse ways of seeing that recognise richness of human experience beyond a singular viewpoint
explain landscapes as performance/feeling
Mitchell suggest change from noun to verb
landscape seen as a social process of identity formation
landscapes have agency
bodies aren’t detached from the world - the practices bodies perform in the landscape effectively are the landscape
don’t just see landscapes we feel them
who explores Non - representational landscapes?
Macpherson (2010)
explain concept of Non-representational landscapes-
landscapes like body become understood as being a process which is constantly undergoing formation
landscapes considered as ‘dreams of presence’ - reflect deeper human desires to solidify or fix our understanding of the world despite its inherently fluid nature
Using an example explain how sense of embodiment is dependent on how the body is put to use
Disabled body - experience of disability becomes more describable as body comes into contact with landscapes that are inaccessible
disability arises from landscape rather than biological givens
Inwood and Martin (2008)
examined racialised landscapes on University of Georgia’s campus
within the campus there are implicit and explicit messages around who does and who doesn’t belong at the Uni - reflect the racial challenges of the past and framed in a certain way
North campus offers a ‘white washed’ collective memory that emits complex pains and struggles of African American students on Campus
How can monuments impact landscape
can direct the process of ‘collective memory’ in which social groups situate identities in time and space
Reflection of powers
Mitchell (2008) quote
landscape are not simply sites of memory but also sites of investment within which those with capital are able to imprint their vision of society more easily
landscapes as a site of social justice?
landscapes can become site of social justice/ resistance movements
advocate the ‘right to belong’
BLM movement - pulling down of statures/monuments in landscapes
= Edward Colston, a 17th-century slave trader, was pulled down during a Black Lives Matter protest in Bristol, England on June, 2020
