ANTH 240: Cultural Landscapes and the Environment

Physical Landscape

Refers to ‘enduring’ features of the environment

They are parts of the landscape that resist change. They are the hills and valleys, the underlying bedrock, and the deposits left behind by glaciers.

Why is the definition of ‘Physical Landscape’ far from unproblematic?

• Do we still have these enduring landscapes after globalization hit?

• Different cultural groups have different views of the physical landscape.

• Ex: The view of the Dene Indigenous People from British Columbia on a mountain and ocean.

Cultural Landscape

• A place/space that shows evidence of human interaction with the physical environment

• A natural landscape has been modified by humans in a way that reflects their culture

• Human interaction with natural systems has transformed those landscape in distinctive ways, with some changes more observable than others (pruning, transplanting, composting, burning).

• These interactions arise from, and cause, cultural values and institutions to develop.

Theoretical Perspectives on Cultural Landscapes

1. Cultural ecology

2. Critical Perspectives or Political Ecology

3. Symbolic Anthropology

Cultural Ecology

Concerned with the ways in which human societies adapt to their environments, and how these adaptations shape physical landscapes, and in return cultural practices and beliefs.

Critical Perspectives or Political Ecology

Critical perspectives on cultural landscapes highlight the role of power dynamics in shaping the creation, maintenance, and interpretation of cultural landscapes. This perspective argues that cultural landscapes are often the product of complex power relationships, with dominant groups imposing their cultural values and norms on others.

Symbolic Anthropology

Symbolic anthropology emphasizes the symbolic meanings attributed to cultural landscapes. This perspective argues that cultural landscapes are imbued with symbolic significance, reflecting the values, norms, and histories of a particular culture (i.e., Keith Basso’s Wisdom Sits in Places).

How do we make cultural landscapes visible?

1. Industrial practices

2. Nested Uses of industrial Landscapes

3. Agricultural Practices

4. Architecture

5. Ethnicity and Linguistic Characteristics

6. Religious Characteristics

7. Sequent Occupancy

Industrial Practices

The way people engage in economic activities leaves a mark on their physical environment.

Nested Uses of Industrial Landscapes

Inserting new, active human functions along with activities directly inside or alongside preserved industrial structures.

Think of the word “nest.” As a noun, it is a place or specially modified structure serving as an abode of animals and especially of their immature stages.

Ex: The professor did research and collaborated with hunters to see the landscape to hunt/trap moose. A trapper (known as a hunter) will use cutlines. “Originally [these cutlines were] cut by resource companies for oil, gas, or mineral exploration, hunters frequently use them as ready-made pathways for navigation, ATVs, and long, clear sightlines to spot game” (AI).

Agricultural Practices

Distinct agricultural practices that reflect unique physical environments and cultural practices.

Distinguish between the Rice Terraces in the Philippines vs. a Hutterite Colony in Saskatchewan when it comes to agricultural practices.

The Rice Terraces don’t need people to work on it constantly compared to the Hutterite Colony. The Rice Terraces looks more natural and the farms owned by the Hutterite Colony needs technology to take care of it.

Distinguish between the Amish Villages in Pennsylvania and the Hutterite Colonies in Saskatchewan

• For the Amish people, some forms of technology are deemed acceptable, like chainsaws but vans are not.

• The Professor told a story that there were Amish people who offered their help to chop up wood from a tree for his brother using a chainsaw. But to get to his brother’s house, they needed to ride their buggy but someone offered to pick them up through a van which they gave in although the transportation is still unacceptable.

Architecture

It is crucial for defining and preserving cultural landscapes and acts as a tangible embodiment of a society’s values, aspirations, and identity.

What is an example of architecture?

• Adobe style houses is a method of building that uses local materials found close to the building site and that reflect the needs of the people (cool in summer and warm in winter). Persists despite new innovations.

• Pittsburgh row houses were built by the steel industry in the early 1900s and remain emblematic of housing design today (gentrification).

Juxtaposition Between Built Environments

Reflecting Important Historical Values of the Past

• Yellowknife, NWT, Old Town vs. Frankfurt, Germany, New Old Town

• Whitehorse, Yukon Waterfront

  • Once the home of poets and writers, the waterfront area is being transformed to meet the needs of growing populations and the expectations of tourists.

  • Nostalgic recollections

  • Changing values have impacts on the landscape.

Ethnicity and Linguistic Characteristics

• Your ethnicity refers to your background heritage, culture, religion, ancestry or sometimes the country where you were born.

• Ethnic enclaves is a geographic area with high ethnic concentration, characteristic cultural identity and economic activity.

• Language - defining one’s place (i.e., French language Requirements)

• Dialects (ya’ll in the south, yinz in Pittsburgh)

• Signage and other directional indicators

• Events and celebrations

Religious Characteristics

• Creation of sacred spaces that reflect specific values and beliefs.

• Religion (Baptists in the US south, Catholics in the northeast, Mormons in Utah) is made visible through the creation of churches and other sacred spaces to reflect those religions.

• Petty Harbor, NL (Catholics and Protestant divide).

Sequent Occupancy

• Refers to the concept that successive groups of people can inhabit the same area over time, each leaving their mark on the cultural landscape.

• This theory highlights how each group’s cultural practices, architecture, and land use build upon and influence those of previous inhabitants, creating a layered cultural history in a given location

Give an example of Sequent Occupancy

• Mexico City serves as a prime example, with its cultural landscape influenced by the original Indigenous peoples, Spanish colonizers, and more recent urban development.

Sense of Place

Emotional bonds and attachments people develop or experience in particular locations and environments, at scales ranging from the home to the nation

Place Attachment to:

• Place identity

• Place dependence

• Social bonding

• Nature bonding

• Sense of belonging

• Familiarity

• Social interaction

Placelessness

Reflects a place in the environment lacking significant or cultural attachment caused by the homogenizing effects of modernity - i.e., Starbucks, McDonalds, Walmart, Tim Hortons (?)