Session 4: The Landscape school: Details, challenges, and transitions

September 17, 2013

Tablelands, South Africa

Norton, W. (2005). Cultural Geography: Environments, Landscapes, Identities, and Inequalities. Oxford University Press, Don Mills.

Readings: Chapter 2 of Norton – The Landscape School; Towards Holistic Emphasis; Chapter 3 – Spatial Analysis

1) Humans use of nature: Parks

2) Lecture: The Landscape school of human geography

3) Holistic emphasis

4) Intro to concepts of spatial analysis

Concept: “Wicked problems”

‘wicked problems’: contentious, highly complex, and characterized by indeterminacy (Rittel and Webber, 1973).

Such problems are not easily resolved through conventional methods of inquiry.

‘Wicked problems’ require researchers to bring together disciplines to develop transdisciplinary understandings and work creatively to understand ‘real-world’ multi-dimensional problems (Buchanan, 1992; Coyne, 2005).

References:

Buchanan, R. (1992). Wicked problems in design thinking. Design issues, 8(2), 5-21.Coyne, R. (2005). Wicked problems revisited. Design studies, 26(1), 5-17.Rittel, H. W., & Webber, M. M. (1973). Dilemmas in general theory of planning. Policy Science, 4, 155-169.

Human Use of Nature

“Use” – is a concept, social construct, and loaded term

“dominion” over “nature” and “others” has deeply affected the

Example: the concept of conservation and protected areas

significant shifts in policy and the way “protection” is modeledhowever much of the same continues

Images: National Geographic

Long history of colonization by the British – deemed them incompatible with nature

separation of humans and nature

Parks established without the prior consent of the Maasai

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) played a major role in this.

“It is we Maasai who have preserved this priceless heritage in our land. We were sharing it with the wild animals long before the arrival of those who use game only as a means of making money. So please do not tell us that we must be pushed off our land for the financial convenience of commercial hunters and hotel-keepers. Nor tell us that we must live only by the rules and regulations of zoologists…If Uhuru (independence) means anything at all, it means that we are to be treated like humans, not animals" (Amin, 181).

Source: Julie Narimatsu, http://www.umich.edu/~snre492/Jones/maasai.htm#Problem

*Language can be very telling in determining the ‘nature’ – human relationship worldview

*compare to previous quote

World conservation paradigm

Shifting towards acknowledging that people are part of nature

in policy and the passing of motions through specialized commissions

CEESP: Commission for Environmental, Economic and Social PolicyWCPA: World Commission on Protected Areas

Promote the TILCEPA working group: Theme on Indigenous Peoples, Local Communities, Equity and Protected Areas

“...concerned with the social aspects of Protected Areas. Particular attention is given to the participation, rights, values, livelihoods and contributions of indigenous peoples and local communities living in or affected by Protected Areas"

Ways of including communities in ‘resource’ management

Different models for co-management

CS

S C

S: State; C: Community

Source: Carlsson & Berkes, 2005

1. Co-management as an exchange system

i.e. exchange of information, goods and service; separate spheres of dominance

2. Co-management as a joint organization

i.e. joint decision making, boarders between sectors are blurred

Ways of including communities in ‘resource’ management

Different models for co-management

S C

C S

S: State; C: Community

Source: Carlsson & Berkes, 2005

3. Co-management as State-nested system

e.g. Provincial forests in Canada

4. Co-management as a community-nested system

e.g. privately owned grazing lands

*3 & 4 are mostly what we see in Canada

New item / thought provoking item of the day

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05eIN02x26Q

Sharing Our Histories: The Keeseekoowenin Ojibway. Riding Mountain

Produced by: Parks Canada in association with Riding Mountain National Park of Canada and Keeseekoowenin Ojibway First Nation Sharing Lodge / Interpretive Centre

‘The cultural landscape is fashioned froma natural landscape by a culture group.Culture is the agent, the natural area isthe medium, the cultural landscape theresult.Under the influence of a givenculture, itself changing through time, thelandscape undergoes development,passing through phases, and probablyreaching ultimately the end of its cycleof development.’ – Carl Sauer

The Landscape school

Factors

Geological

Climatic

Vegetational

WeatherLand

SurfaceSoilDrainageMinerals

Sea and CoastPlants

NaturalLandscape

Forms

TIME

Morphology of the landscape

Sauer’s key ideas leading to 3 major themes

1) Ecological component: Cultural landscapes result from occupance of a physical landscape

2) Evolutionary component: Cultural landscapes change through time

3) Regional or cultural component: Cultural activities result in the creation of a relatively distinct cultural landscape

Factors

TIME NaturalLandscapeCulture

PopulationDensityMobility

HousingStructure

ProductionCommunication

CulturalLandscape

Forms

The Landscape school

*evolutionarycomponent

*ecologicalcomponent

*regional or culturalcomponent

Environmental determinism

WeatherLand

SurfaceSoilDrainageMinerals

Sea and CoastPlants

NaturalLandscape

Forms

TIME

PopulationDensityMobility

HousingStructure

ProductionCommunication

CulturalLandscape

Forms

TIME

*Imagining landscapes through art maps – the work of Miriam Rudolph

superorganic - mechanist and determinist way of thinking independent from individuals of a society

Comte & Spencer - society as an integrated entity , comparable to a physical system and entirely determining the behaviour of the people within it (Norton, 2005, p.60)

Understanding the superorganic through art

Kroeber – non-organic human product of societies, cultural institutions, modes of production, and levels of technology (Norton, 2005, p.60)

More scholarly interpretations pgs. 60-61

Manitoba I – Highway 75 (29X49 cm), by Miriam Rudolph

Manitoba II – Flax and Canola Fields (29X49 cm), by Miriam Rudolph

Manitoba III – Pembina Hills and Hay Bales (29X49 cm), by Miriam Rudolph

“The map-like structure of my paintings allows me to build up a narrative of

different experiences simultaneously.”

- Miriam Rudolph

Photo: Montana Department of Environment

Revisions of the landscape approach

Subtle revisions prior to the 1970s:

1) decreased emphasis on the evolution component

2) diminishing emphasis on maintaining the regional focus & increased emphasis on the visible landscape

3) close integration of historical and cultural analysis

4) decreasing emphasis on culture as cause

*rejection of superorganic (cultural elements independent of individual members of society) – maintained a focus on the physical landscape

Towards holistic emphasis

Greek and Christian notions of holism: included notions of both ranking of living things and unity of all living things

Geographical thought (Renaissance to 1800): Leading scholars (Hutton & Lamarck) conceived of humans as being a part of nature

19th Century, Humbolt and Ritter made the greatest contributions

* Earth as an organic whole: “land affects the inhabitants and the inhabitants affect land”

Ecological emphasis: “organisms in their homes” – rejected the separation of humans and nature & avoided the reductionist perspective

*Things cannot be studied out of their context & interrelationships of all kinds are important

Anishinaabe teachings

Evolutionary Naturalism

Naturalism: cause and effectPillarsof science +

Evolution: all things are connected

Dualism 2 currents of thought in the Western word:

sacred & secular

Encourages the study of human institutions using the procedures used in the sciences

Based on:

Source: Norton 2005, Table 3.1, pg. 70

Spatial analysis – outside of the cultural geo sub-discipline

(relating to scientific laws)(relating to individual regions)

Running in parallel with the landscape school...

The influence of science in geography...spatial analysis

Spatial analysis is based on generalizations

Directed towards physical and economic geography

Cultural geography is based on particularities of culture and space

Quantitative and Qualitative differences in approaches to questions:

Different kinds of questions require different kinds of approaches!

Quantitative approaches can only answer the causality (“why”) of some questions.

e.g. prevalence of lead poisoning, settlements, and migration related to watershed contamination due to mineral extraction

http://video.esri.com/watch/1637/lessons-in-spatial-analysis

ESRI overview on the potential for spatial analysis