Fieldwork,heritage and engaging landscape texts

This paper outlines and analyses efforts to critically engage with “heritage” through the development and responses to a series of undergraduate residential fieldwork trips held in the North Coast of Jamaica. The ways in which we read heritage through varied “texts” – specifically, material landscapes, guided heritage tours, visual imagery and creative writing – and how these readings are couched within changing emotional geographies are analysed in relation to specific field-based sites. The study highlights the dynamic nature of heritage landscapes and the creative ways in which they can be understood and represented through diverse forms of engagement and assessment.     

On the Particularism of English Landscape Archaeology

The aim of this paper is to explore the question: why is the archaeology of English historic landscapes apparently so provincial? Inevitably the response must be that matters are more complex. In this paper, I examine the work of W. G. Hoskins, the “father of English landscape history,” and draw attention to: the complex way in which landscape is embedded in nationalism; the relations between locale, province, and nation; and the way wider tensions, in particular of colonialism are embedded within Hoskins's own discourse. In conclusion, I examine ways in which this problematic continues to structure enquiry into the English landscape today and to inhibit a genuinely international and comparative approach to historic landscapes.     

Capturing spatial patterns of rural landscapes with point cloud

Over the past few decades, rural landscapes have been the subject of increasing international cultural heritage research, and one of the most important issues under investigation at both theoretical and pragmatic levels concerns how to identify the spatial character of rural landscapes for conservation purposes. This article establishes an innovative approach adopting a cultural landscape perspective with the support of point cloud technologies to capture spatial patterns of rural landscapes. This approach was explored by reference to Tunpu villages in Guizhou, China—these being a specific kind of military fortress settlement. Cultural landscape values and landscape characters of Tunpu villages were identified using historical research and document analysis. Aerial and terrestrial photogrammetry and laser scanning systems were combined to collect and process spatial information at environmental, village, and architectural scales. Point cloud models can quantitatively represent villages' spatial patterns and inform the interpretation of their heritage significance. We conclude that the strengths of point cloud technologies could meet the requirements of rural landscape heritage documentation from a cultural landscape perspective. This mixed‐technology approach could also greatly improve the efficiency and precision of traditional rural landscape documentation, which has the potential to change methodologies applied to rural landscape research and management.     

Writing on Stone; Writing on Paper: Myth,History and Memory in NW Amazonia

This paper deals with the relation between different kinds of indigenous speech and music and various iconographic forms such as petroglyphs, house painting, basketry designs and also features of landscape that are understood in graphic terms. It examines how Northwest Amazonian myth-history is structured and memorized, how it can appear in both verbal and non-verbal forms, and how contemporary books, maps and diagrams produced by indigenous organizations as part of programmes of research and education show continuity with these traditional forms. Rather than making firm distinctions between peoples with and without writing, I argue that it is more profitable to focus on how various mnemonic systems—“writing”—work in tandem with different narrative forms—“myth”. When “writing” and “myth” are understood in indigenous terms, contemporary written documents appear in a new light.     

Alexander von Humboldt's invention of the natural landscape

Landscape took on a new meaning through the new science of plant geography of Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1857). In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, “landscape” was foremost a painterly genre. Slowly, painted landscapes came to bear on natural surroundings, but by 1800 it was still not common to designate sites as “landscapes.” Humboldt looked at plant vegetation with a painterly gaze. Artists, according to him, could suggest in their work that an abstract unity lay hidden underneath observable phenomena. Humboldt projected painted landscapes on nature and found its ecological unity. By doing so, he ultimately stripped the concept of landscape from its primary visual meaning.     

LANDSCAPE AS A SUBJECT OF HUMAN IMPACT

A continuing critique of the Soviet school of anthropogenic landscape science (see Soviet Geography, October 1974) questions whether man is, in fact, capable of creating “new” landscapes or his intervention in the natural environment simply tends to “modify” existing natural landscapes. The author rejects the view that significant modification of anyone of the components of landscape (including flora and fauna) is sufficient to produce an anthropogenic landscape or that a cutover forest area or a cattle trail, for example, represents a newly created landscape. A genuine modification of landscape requires an alteration of the basic structure of landscape, and this can be achieved only through modification of primary landscape components, such as the geomorphic foundation and climate. These are precisely the components that are less susceptible to human intervention than secondary components like plant and animal communities. Another criterion of basic landscape modification is stability; most anthropogenic landscapes turn out to be unstable when abandoned. Man achieves the most stable results in landscape modification by acting in concert with natural dynamic tendencies in the landscape.     

Nazi memorabilia,dark heritage and treasure hunting as “alternative” tourism: Understanding the fascination with the material remains of World War II in Northern Finland

Sites connected to the Second World War (WWII) are increasingly recognized as worthy of archaeological investigation. Researchers are also becoming aware that that the collectors market in objects connected to WWII, particularly those connected to Germany, is encouraging the stripping of conflict landscapes in the search for “collectors items.” Finnish Lapland is sometimes regarded as peripheral compared to more centrally located regions of Europe. Archaeologists working here nonetheless find themselves in direct competition with enthusiastic treasure hunters. This is complicated even further by the myriad ontologies employed by different individuals in the construction of their relationship with the material culture connected to recent conflict periods, and on specific “other” or “exotic” landscapes, such as Lapland. This paper examines what might be learnt about the nature of treasure hunting for and trading in WWII material from Lapland, and its position within the emerging research on broader trends in “dark” approaches to and encounters with heritage.     

论观景台之作用、保护与制度建设

观景台是人类经选择从事观察景物活动的最佳场所,其形式多样,既有天然观景台,也有人工观望台,还有的观景台本身即是景观。观景台对所观察到的遗产能发挥促进保护的作用,因此,既是一类重要的文化遗产保护对象,更是一类可以发挥重要作用的保护手段,可以纳入文化遗产保护的制度建设。     

Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage Initiatives in Tanzania and Mozambique

The aim of this paper is provide an overview of the capacity building programmes in maritime and underwater cultural heritage (MUCH) conducted by the authors in Tanzania and Mozambique. Tanzania and Mozambique have long histories of indigenous cultures, foreign contacts and influences and African adaptations beginning in the late Greco-Roman period, when the coastal populations exploited the peoples and riches of the interior. Today the coastline contains numerous examples of indigenous tangible and intangible heritage and many sites and histories related to the Swahili culture. Some exploratory research and training has been conducted in Tanzania and Mozambique, but the implementation by local residents of their own MUCH programme is still at an early stage. Under a UNESCO agreement framework, Tanzania in particular has started to develop a MUCH programme, which can assist in highlighting their extensive histories, cultural landscapes and cultural identity.     

Regional cultural heritage versus national heritage in Scania's disputed national landscape

This article argues that the official landscape heritage in Sweden is formed in an interplay between regional and national discourses, and that the national ideology during the last century has promoted the preservation of stereotyped landscapes that partly ignores the conditions under which these landscapes were actually formed. This tends to naturalise the landscape, often cleansing it of human action and thereby generating a notion of an innate and given national landscape. To illustrate this, the landscape of the province of Skåne in southernmost Sweden is discussed from a heritage perspective. This province (which was Danish up to 1658) has a landscape characterised by its openness and contrasting to the emblematic Swedish cultural landscape of forests and small hamlets. A conclusion is that Skåne's landscape heritage runs the risk of being alienated when it is valued from a national criterion, and that a critical questioning of official heritage practice is therefore needed.     

Sites,sacredness, and stories: Interactions of archaeology and contemporary paganism

Folklore has, until very recently, been at the fringes of archaeological research. Post-processual archaeology has promoted plurality in interpretation, however, and archaeology more widely is required to make itself relevant to contemporary society; so, contemporary folkloric practices vis-a`-vis archaeological remains are once again receiving attention. In this paper we examine contemporary Pagan understandings of and engagements with “sacred sites” in England. Specifically, we explore how Pagan meanings are inscribed and constituted, how they draw on “traditional” understandings of sites and landscapes, and instances in which they challenge or reify the “preservation ethic” of heritage management. From active interactions with sites, such as votive offerings and instances of fire and graffiti damage, to unconventional (contrasted with academic) interpretations of sites involving wights and spirit beings, Neolithic shamans, or goddesses, there are diverse areas of contest. We argue archaeology must not reject Pagan and other folklores as “fringe,” but, in an era of community archaeology, transparency and collaboration, respond to them, preferably dialogically.     

From universal to local: perspectives on cultural landscape heritage in South Africa

The concept of cultural landscapes relates to the multifaceted links between people, place and identity. From a professional perspective, the concept refers to a category of designated conservation areas with specific biocultural heritage values. From a local perspective, it may refer to a landscape that is associated with the provision of a culturally-specific sense of identity and belonging. We explore these two perspectives through a comparative analysis of three cultural landscapes in South Africa, the ‘expert’ designated Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape and the Richtersveld Cultural and Botanical Landscape, and the local associative landscape of emaXhoseni, which is not formally recognised. We propose that a biocultural diversity perspective of heritage not only recognises the inextricable relationship between nature and culture, but it also gives prominence to the beliefs, values and practices of local people, and to strengthening their agency to safeguard their heritage in ways and forms that are relevant to them.     

‘Whore-friendly people’: heritage tourism,the media and the place of sex work in Butte,Montana

In 1997, the International Sex Workers Foundation for Arts, Culture and Education (ISWFACE) began the process of purchasing a historic parlor house brothel (the Dumas) in Butte, Montana to create a cultural center and museum. This business transaction drew national and international attention while Butte citizens questioned the presence of ISWFACE in their community. Using media accounts of the Dumas, I examine the framing of sex work and its place in the heritage tourism landscape of the American West. The case of the Dumas captures the complicated relationship between history, a community, tourism and the media on local as well as national/international levels. Sex work is part of the historical landscape of the American West, but is fading from view as communities actively shape their public image, erasing this element from their landscapes.     

The journey as a transcultural experience for international students

An international two-year Erasmus Mundus MA, Transcultural European Outdoor Studies (TEOS), uses the journey as a central metaphorical concept, the “peregrinatio academica”, and experiential pedagogy. Students study human nature interactions through the lens of outdoor education and recreation while travelling for a semester at a time in three European countries: England, Norway and Germany. We argue that the transcultural concept is facilitated by the diverse nationalities of the student cohort and the concept and experience of the journey. Empirical evidence from student feedback, course discussions, and staff reflections is used to explore the ways in which the programme elucidates ideas of expert and Eurocentric knowledge of landscape and learning by valuing individual knowledge constructions and new research. Simultaneously, we argue that the typical European “gaze” on the “other” somehow is reversed as “others” gaze at European cultures, and, to some degree, contribute to destabilizing culturally taken-for-granted knowledge. This offers new opportunities for a more nuanced transcultural exploration of human nature interactions in diverse landscapes and cultures. We conclude that the knowledge and skills developed by this programme supports the development of “transculturalized” students with the enhanced capacity to shift between and discuss diverse positions and ways of viewing and knowing.     

“… but in its proper place. …”Religion,Enlightenment, and Australia's Secular Heritage: The Case of Robert Lowe in Colonial NSW 1842–1850

Over the last few decades historians have been rediscovering Australia's religious heritage, often in response to entrenched narratives depicting Australia's social, intellectual, and political history as a triumph of secular enlightenment over vestiges of Old World partnerships of religion, state, and society. That Australia has a rich secular heritage is indisputable, but to draw a sharp distinction between the “secular” and the “religious” is anachronistic and misguided, and any attempt to tell the story of Australia's secular heritage must acknowledge that the “secular” often found its justification flowing from more general religious premises grounded in enlightenment ideals such as rational religion, rational piety, and general Christianity. Indeed, when liberal democracy was emerging in the colonies the “secular” had to be justified in terms acceptable to the public square and these terms were broadly religious. Robert Lowe is an apt case study for divining the nature of the secular in colonial Australia, for his thought and political activity show the subtle and complex way that ideals such as “enlightenment,” “religion,” and “secular” entered into dialogue rather than warfare with one another and contributed to social institutions judged suitable for a fledgling pluralist nation.     

INVADED BY WEEDS: CONTESTED LANDSCAPE STORIES

Landscapes tell stories of the lives and dwelling of those who inhabit them. They are not given, but in constant motion. In North Norwegian coastal societies cultural landscapes are rapidly transforming. One of the most visible and debated agents of landscape transformations are weeds such as cow parsley and dock. As well as threatening the biodiversity of coastal landscapes, the “invading weeds” seem to challenge the embodied landscapes of their dwellers. Focusing on the rapid spread of cow parsley, this article investigates complex and contested aspects of landscape changes. Inspired by Ingold's phenomenological perspective as well as performative theories, we search for ways of approaching hybridized relations within dwelt places. The transformative agency of cow parsley is used as a lens to approach societal dynamics and challenges. Through a study of the coastal community of Herøy in Northern Norway, we have explored people's engagement with the changing cultural landscape. The cow parsley covered landscape is perceived as a deteriorated landscape and as such seems to affect a form of alienation. We demonstrate a disruption between the emerging landscape produced by new ways of dwelling, and the landscape people wish to dwell in. What happens when the landscape tells stories which their dwellers do not want to be part of?     

The significance of significance in cultural heritage studies: a role for cultural analogues in applied geography teaching

Abstract

This teaching exercise for increasing awareness of, and sensitivity to, issues in cultural heritage management addresses the significance attached to cultural icons associated with the past. The exercise uses representative places from the non‐indigenous Australian historical landscape as cultural analogues to introduce non‐indigenous Australian students to issues of indigenous cultural heritage. Assessment of student response suggests that the exercise serves its purpose in increasing awareness of both issues of cultural significance and difficulties in cultural heritage management.     

Heritage,amenity, and the changing landscape of the rural American West

The production landscapes that once dominated the rural American West are being transformed into amenity landscapes intended largely for consumption by in-migrants and visitors. However, once people settle in the rural West, a newly realized amenity may be recognized: the region's relic cultural landscape. This paper builds upon a 2007 study that used resident-employed photography to assess the varying environmental perspectives of, and social interactions between, newcomers and long-established ranchers in a rural Colorado valley. Photographs taken by both lifelong ranchers and newer nonagricultural residents highlighted two relic landscapes in the valley: its cemetery and one-room schoolhouse. This study investigates these particular cultural landscapes, their histories, meanings, and what their futures in this region may hold, given the in-migration. Using archives, landscape interpretation, and interviews with key informants, this paper analyzes how newcomers may appropriate these relic landscapes and further develop them as cultural amenities in their new environment. Simultaneously, long-established ranchers may defend these landscapes of their own heritage against such co-optation. The interests of newcomers in these historic relics impacts how they are, and will continue to be, managed, possibly creating new opportunities for social interaction among these groups.     

A boat perspective: local geographic knowledge of fish harvesters in Change Islands,Newfoundland

People whose livelihoods depend on the natural environment have detailed knowledge of the lands and waters surrounding their communities. This paper presents research on the traditional geographic knowledge of fish harvesters in Change Islands, Newfoundland. Our findings, based on “kitchen table mapping” and other ethnographic methods, demonstrate that residents of coastal communities have extensive geographic knowledge associated with a way of life centred on fishing. This knowledge is reflected in a “namescape” that includes hundreds of toponyms that are not present on existing maps and that reflect meaningful connections with local history and cultural heritage. Fish harvesters also have distinctive ways of conceptualizing the landscape and the seascape, which is reflected in the geographic terminology they use. Overall, their way of looking at the environment, in contrast to the bird's-eye perspective that prevails in western cartography, can be characterized as a “boat perspective”. Their geographic knowledge has practical value for improving existing cartographic information and developing sustainable resource use strategies. At a broader level, their distinctive ways of interpreting the “earthscape” provide alternative ways of understanding space and place, and can help us identify our assumptions about how we define geographic features and represent them on maps.