Landscapes

Maps distortions of reality

maps can influence what we think& feel about a place, what we expect it 2 look like- B4 seeing it. 

Centralised countries given importance whilst the ones on the periphery are overlookeed

maps and satnavs sometimes ecnourage a narrow-swense of viewing the world, think of quickest way dont look at wider context of a place or surroundings

Landscapes do two very specific things
1) hide (road) and mask the fact they are socially constructed - make things seem 'natural'
2) landscapes make these representations work somehow- make us feel, act, think in certain ways

Constable's paintings actively helped us create/reinforce the distinct identities of the working class and labourers- represented 'natural' landscapes of Eastern england 

(John Horton and Peter Kraft, 2013)

Landscapes can be considered as a performance- change it from a noun to a verb 
think of lanscape not as an object to be seen or a text to be read but as a social process by which social and subjective identities are performed. 

landscapes work as a kind of cultural practice- landscapes have a power of their own independent of human agency 

Bodies are not detached from the world, landscapes are closer than we think

landscapes of childhood - self-built dens, small woodland areas, forgotten of neglected areas of cities- only accessible through being a child, not the more 'rational' lens of adult memory

adults learn not to see the creative use of places and learn the more function uses 'work', leisure adult activites.

so childhood is an almost dark 'other' place.
 landscapes are created and represented to support certain interests and exclude others. 
we do not just see landscapes but feel them through all our senses. 

Landscape inherits stigma of groups, and stigmatised landscapes can transfer stigma onto people (Takahashi)

Today we will…

•Explore two principle approaches to the study of landscapes within Geography

–Landscape as ‘a way of seeing’

–Landscape as ‘a way of being’ (not mutually exclusive )

•Give you a feel for how you can engage with landscape in your own study and research through a focus on:

–Power and inequality in landscape

–Performance in landscape

The concept of representation through landscape how geographers engage with it 

Which of these best represents what landscape means to you, and why?

Urban landscape- window 

drawn to painting- strong association of landscape with big scenery, landscapes without people, rural landscapes - interesting way to think about the way we think about landscape 

key concept: representation 

Divya Tolia-Kelly looked at Hadrian's wall - this is represented in a particular way - represented as a white history- classic characterisation of white men in togas. this representation is prominent in heritage sites.

actually the roman empire was deeply multi-cultural, present in different sites of the wall 

project destablises idea that history of the UK is mainly white- right-wing politics is like let's recover our country and our race- when in fact the history of our UK is deeply multi cutural and part of or heritage. her work shows how landscape, race and memory intertwine in important ways 

if that history could be retold in different ways our idea of who we are could be retold- more accepting. 

Overwhelming farming landscape associated with men  - representation masculine even though women are a crucial part of the work in this landscape, they are  excluded from it. 

•Saugeres, L. (2002) The cultural representation of the farming landscape: masculinity, power and nature. Journal of Rural Studies 18 (4) 373-384 

•'Cultivating health thereapeautic landscapes and older people in northern england more linked to people bein in the landscape and doing stuff- projects connecting people with nature  gardening how thes things are therapeautic-- older people activity.  

•Origins with Carl Sauer – focus on imprint of human culture on the earth

  Carl Sauer -  Agricultural Origins and Dispersals (1952). rich history in geography for looking at llandscape as cultivation. 

•But, today, Wylie (2014) identifies two main approaches:

–Landscape as a way of seeing •(landscape as scenery)
Geographers do engage with landscape as scenery 
–Landscape as a way of being in the landscape, or ‘dwelling’ •(landscape as performance)
about people's experiences, about your experiences as you move through the landscape

•But these are not mutually exclusive!! Landscape can be both scenery and performance •

no single definition for andscape 

•Geographers have explored landscape as:

–A kind of visualization: for example, how do paintings, poems and photos represent the world in a particular way?  this connects well to geographies of tourism, representations within museum, links well to material culture within the arts and mapping.

–Connections to work on tourism, museums and geographies of material culture and the arts – But also mapping…

how is it represented and what does it mean?

outsider looking in - how is that scene represented?

•Geographers have explored landscape as:

–The building up of layers of local customs, knowledge, traditions and laws BUT also, the ways in which landscape is lived, felt and practically experienced by people

–Connections to work on different farming/architectural cultures but also embodiment/performance and the emotions, which we’ll explore next time

this way of being in landscape is underpinned by ^^^

imagine yourself as part of this scene

           Core themes:                                                                    Cross-cutting concerns:

        - Landscapes as scenery                                              - power, inequality & social justice 

        - Landscape as performance                                      - The embodied experience of landscape

                   There’s also an interesting issue of perspective going on here – gazing upon/looking out at/capturing Vs direct experiential – being part of, no one single narrative… Perspective

Key questions that will help you ‘read’ landscape for issues of power and inequality

•Who or what is present in the landscape?

•Who or what is absent from the landscape?

(These questions will help you get at symbolism, values, belonging, etc.)

•Whose perspective is ordering the landscape? organising 

•Who has the power to control/create the landscape?

•How is history/memory present in the landscape? e.g. museums- every landscape is built up over time - what historical factors have lead to the landscape being built up.

toolkit- think 

The example that inspired me: A short (and contentious!) history of the English landscape…

example ifyou sdk people what they consider to be a british landscape will say bluebells hedgebrows 

A ‘natural’ landscape??

No! The product of particular political processes and forms of agriculture…

bluebells happened because of coppiced forests- firewood- this process would be repeated on a rotational cycle- thinned out natural woodland- enable bluebells to grow on the forest floor. bluebells are very managed

Hedgewoods- enclosed fields to keep livestock in, political practice- enclosure app- landmark political event in the UK. Parcel off bits of land into privatised land- social inequality between people who could control the private land and who couldnt.

•For example, the Enclosure Acts of the 18th century and Gainsborough’s ‘Mr and Mrs Andrews’ (1750) Power
belonging and control this painting is a real example of peope having ownership over landscape- inequality in the landscape- it's called Mr and Mrs Andrews- this painting everything about it is showing control and exclusion issues of the landscape. couple are presented on the foreground you can intentionally see behind them- deliberate can see they're a wealthy couple, all the land behind them is their landscape- two wealthy individuals having power over the space- inclusion of landscape deliberate.  Man has a gun- woman has this stance- his property too- economic status before photographs, couple were painted. 

•Lancelot Brown (Capability Brown) – 18th century landscape architect

•Pioneered a more ‘naturalistic’ style of garden design, replacing previous formal gardens

So fashions in what we consider to be ‘beautiful’ landscapes have changed.

Landscape gardening as a tool by which people can represent themselves in particular ways… land management as a way to represent yourselves- a bi like how you dressed if you were wealthy 

formal gardens - topiary - piece from history very managed 

Stourhead gardens to more naturalistic styles- has been designed and cltivated, 

•William Wordsworth and his poetry  (including the famous ‘daffodils’) is strongly associated with the Lake District.
• http :// wordsworth . org

•But this wasn’t always considered beautiful!

landscapes aren't natural they are creaated- created bring in ideas of exclusion. what was considered beautiful has changed <- landscapes.

People thought the lake district was wild, heathen prewordsworth and his poetry

•Issues of power and landscape are central to debates around:

–Land use and planning policy
–Conservation management
–Heritage/remembrance –

With implications for who or what belongs in any given landscape...

–For example, the race, heritage and memory example we saw previously and… landscape can have a power influence on the debates that comes up who or what belongs in a landscape

central to debates and controvesys over these ^ concerned with how your project looks aesthetically, communities argue a lot about conservation - it involves a politically charged process- what period in history do you deem important enough to save 

“I’m a farm lad who grew up admiring my grandfather and my father and the way they farmed here,” he explains, “and the book’s about realising that for most people, the Lake District isn’t about them. It’s about Wainwright and Wordsworth and walking and beautiful lakes. As I grew up, I found that annoying – that we’re invisible in our own landscape – and the book is a kickback against that.” James Rebanks

 The guardian article

awful lot of anger in the book about tourists- feels like hill farmers of the lake district are marginalised - a lot of people from the towns turn up and walk through these fields- without reaalising that the landscape is a product of hill farming. this is a case where farmers are being marginalised who have an intimate part of the landscape- for him it is his landscape. but for other peope he is not part of it. 

interesting for contemporary representations of power and control

•Who or what is present in the landscape?
•Who or what is absent from the landscape?

(These questions will help you get at symbolism, values, belonging, etc.)

•Whose perspective is ordering the landscape?
•Who has the power to control/create the landscape?
•How is history/memory present in the landscape?

can apply to this to any situation in history 

•It would be well worth reading these:

•Chap 9 (Crang) on Representation and Reality

•Chap 13 (Crampton) The Power of Maps •Who is centered/decentered? 

•What data is included/excluded?

•The problem of the ‘objective’ gaze…

•worldmapper .org 
 •overrepresents europe, underrepresents Africa

  YOU CAN APPLY THESE QUESTIONS AND CNCEPTS TO MAPS - organised that the UK is  in the centre of the map, all maps are representations and decisions have been made about how to draw them

•Explore two principle approaches to the study of landscapes within Geography

–Landscape as ‘a way of seeing’
–Landscape as ‘a way of being’

•Give you a feel for how you can engage with landscape in your own study and research through a focus on:

–Power and inequality in landscape spent most of today looking at this <<

–Performance in landscape

Performance in landscape

•Idea that landscapes aren’t static but made

•We are inside the landscape, experiencing it with our whole body, not just the eye…

•This perspective lends itself to exploration of
–Landscapes of emotion, history and memory
–Our performances and experiences within landscape and our efforts to make/remake them

For example, Mike Hardman’s research on Guerrilla gardening…

Adams, D. and Hardman, M. (2013) Observing Guerrillas in the Wild: Reinterpreting Practices of Informal Gardening, Urban Studies doi:10.1177/0042098013497410- what people have done to remake landscapes

landscapes arent static they are made, we are in landscapes and experiencing them with our whole body not ust our whole eye. how do people feel about landscapes, and what do those feelings tell us about what is going on?

•http://www.guerrillagardening.org/index.html - cultivatng neglected urban places - make something perceived as ugly beautiful 

images white tourists , isolated, idea of paradise not bothered by other species- landscape of exclusion others are excluded

photo of a couple on a beach 

ownership is implied- exclusivity 

what we consider beautiful- luxury landscape 

• Acting as tourist one of the defining features modernism.
• Places chosen daydreaming and fantast, tv,, magazine, the tourist gaze

Cultural geographers approach landscapes in diverse ways

In 20thC cultural geographers defined  landscape as the outcome of how diff human cultures interacted with and were influenced by natural environmental conditions- soil terrain, vegetation and climate.

Landscape partly understood as imprint human culture upon earth as ultural landscape Sauer 1925
Different types of landscape, reflect both the so-called natural envronment & human cultural diversity - agriculture, architecture, belief systems etc

landscape certain framework for visualising the world- almost like map or telescope or microscope

Way of seeing- photos, paintings

• Landscape as a way of being
• Human landscapes emerge & are sustained through everyday practices of inhabitation- moving, interacting, working, playing, remembering etc
• Landscape is the world we live in- immersed through our senses
• who has the power to influencne and direct how we see landscape? 
• landscape performance - everydy actions and aritistic performance

landscape & national identities linked- national values expressed  via landscape Cumberland sausage only in Cumbria 
critical geographers analyse these landscapes- ask questions who is included -E.g. Manchester square - police kick out anyone who looks scruffy and is drinking wine 

'Don't trip (man on skyscraper) -urban exploration derelict, hidden forbidden cityscapes- ascent to top of shard good example aim to get past security and usual ordering and policing of landscape then document this. This may be seen as forms of landscaping - deliberately set out to contest claims to ownership. 

Parkour  - practice of 'urban free running ' participants seek tojump across rooftops usestairs in ways other than intended.  In doing so = make another landscape.

'sense; of landscape here is one of engagement, involvement & immersion- landscape whole body not just eyes participates. 

interpretation of urban exploration developed here illustrates how we can usefully roll together diff understandings of landscape as a way of seeing and dwelling as powerful expression of inequalities and as resistant practice. 

Landscape is political because it can reinforce what is understood to be normal and go against these norms by trespass

issues of power in determining what we visualise as beautiful % natural - hadrian's wall- whiite representation when in fact roman empire multidiverse - landscape can be seen as masquerade fixed nature whose human histories invisible