Module: EH7008-30 - Cultural Landscapes

Level: 7

Credit Value: 30

Module Tutor: Sian Sullivan

Module Tutor Contact Details: s.sullivan@bathspa.ac.uk

1.Brief description and aims of module

This module draws on environmental anthropology, cultural geography, political ecology and environmental history to explore intersections between shared axes of difference and their manifestations in experiences and perceptions of land and nature. It aims to:

• introduce you to a variety of theoretical and substantive issues in exploring land and landscapes as culturally constructed and politically contested;
• consider a range of theoretical, methodological and policy approaches to land and cultural landscapes;
• explore a range of key topics as ‘case-studies’, drawing on ethnographic, historical, archaeological and natural science material and including popular literature, visual images and other media;
• juxtapose material from ‘north’ and ‘south’ to highlight historical, colonial and contemporary interrelationships in environmental politics and management.

2.Outline syllabus

This module draws on environmental anthropology, cultural geography, political ecology and environmental history to explore intersections between shared axes of difference and their manifestations in experiences and perceptions of land and nature. The module focuses in particular on histories of enclosure and colonialism, to consider the world-making effects of encounters between cultures with different understandings of ‘natures-beyond-the-human’. Strongly rooted in a series of theoretical frames, themes returned to throughout the module include:

• juxtaposition of a western perspectival construction of landscapes – i.e. landscape as object to be read and viewed by an externally located gaze, and to be rationalised via a distant management ethic – with understandings of landscapes as dynamic, embodied and dwelled in;
• concepts of ‘coloniality’, ‘indigeneity’, postcolonialism and decolonisation, as these play out in historical and present dynamics of people-land relationships;
• relationships between place and displacement, belonging and mobility, memory and affect;
• contemporary policy and management concerns in relation to the protection of cultural landscapes as valued heritage.

Indicative Syllabus

The module will start by introducing different perspectives on the social construction and management of cultural landscapes, before moving to explore a series of theoretical and conceptual frames, including: histories of enclosure; landscapes and discourse; experience, phenomenology and embodiment; and ontological pluralism. The second part of the module will draw on these theoretical frames in considering in detail a series of case studies, including: gardens as cultural landscapes; maps, power and the colonial frontier; indigeneity, place and belonging; nomadism and the state; and cyberspace, virtualism and the spectacle of nature.

3.Teaching and learning activities

This module is delivered through a mix of lectures, seminars, visits and student-led presentations.

Assessment Item 1:

• Assessment Type: Course Work
• Description: 15 min presentation of essay topic, assessed by module convenor, module moderator and through in-class self-assessment
• % Weighting: 15%

Assessment Item 2:

• Assessment Type: Course Work
• Description: 5,000 word detailed essay/project
• % Weighting: 85%