#Nature: postmodern narrative, place, and nature in Santa Barbara, CA

Abstract

ABSTRACTWe conducted a mixed methods content analysis of posts on the social media network Instagram to investigate the role ideas of ‘nature’ play in the construction of place in Santa Barbara, California. Whereas narrative is instrumental to the construction of place, Instagram constitutes a paradigmatically postmodern form of narrative that has fundamentally changed both the process of place-making, and the types of places that result. Both these phenomena are observed in the specific context of Santa Barbara, where residents use references to nature, both rhetorically and materially, as markers of prestige or affluence. On Instagram, these references are pictures of trees, beaches, and sunsets. Santa Barbara has a reputation as progressive and environmentally conscious, and the local concept of place, as reflected in this study, is heavily tied to nature. The ‘nature’ that defines Santa Barbara, however, can be fundamentally anti-ecological, more closely tied to material wealth than legitimate concern for the health of ecosystems. As such, the article argues that ‘nature capital’, or the level of prestige associated with a material landscape based on its aesthetic value as ‘nature’, is the preeminent factor defining Santa Barbara as a place.