Local Cultural Landscape Research Articles

Temporal cultural landscape dynamics in a marginal upland area: agricultural expansions and contractions inferred from palynological evidence at Yttra Berg, southern Sweden

Agrarian history and local cultural landscape dynamics have been documented through pollen analysis of a peat core within the hamlet of Yttra Berg, which is situated in an upland area of southwest Sweden. The sequence covers the last 5,000 years, from Neolithic to modern time. Wood pasturing started at 2000 b.c., followed by grazing and small-scale cultivation with 500 year cycles from 650 b.c., and permanent fields of agriculture from a.d. 1150. The area was abandoned during the period a.d. 1350–1550. Three cycles of succession related to land-use have been identified for the period 650 b.c. to a.d. 1550. Correlation with frequent clearance cairns in the area is discussed. Recessions of agriculture/settlement during the late Middle Ages and late modern time are documented. Pollen data indicate increased landscape and plant diversity since the Neolithic, closely linked to openness of the agrarian landscape. These results are important for landscape restoration.

Cultural landscape dynamics of transboundary areas: A case study of the Karelian isthmus

Transboundary landscapes are the territories most prone to change. Their dominant cultural landscape is determined not only by natural processes, ethnic features, internal state politics, and foreign politics but also by the human memory and existing mental space. The goal of the research presented in this article was to demonstrate how the change in political borders influenced the Karelian landscape. Ethnic changes, and the corresponding changes in how the landscape was viewed, led to an altered pattern of land use, which sometimes resulted in the creation of an almost new type of cultural landscape. The ways in which the landscape existed in the minds of the people and in the attitudes of local authorities could also bring about a change in the landscape. The Karelian Isthmus (the territory of Russia adjoining the state border with Finland), which has belonged to different states and has repeatedly changed its ethnic structure, was studied as a transboundary cultural landscape. The study focused most specifically on the local cultural landscape at the end of the twentieth and the beginning of the twenty‐first centuries, when the Karelian Isthmus became a sort of bridge connecting Russia and the countries of the European Community. Dominant and subdominant cultural landscapes were examined, based on the author's field research and interviews. During the last one hundred years, there have been three main stages in the development of cultural landscapes in the Karelian Isthmus—Finnish, Soviet, and Russian (post‐Soviet)—as well as two transition periods when restructuring of the settlement system and land use took place. The three dominant landscape types (agricultural; rural‐agricultural; and collective‐garden and recreational) that correspond to the three main stages are considered in this article, as are the three subdominant cultural landscape types (military, estate, and countryside). These transboundary territories are unstable, most of them belonging to relict landscapes, the traditional features of which would need to be maintained. The preservation and development of transboundary landscapes are a concern of all neighboring countries.

Cultural and Aesthetic Factors in Power Plant Design Preferences

The major facets of an aesthetic perspective from functions, aesthetic appeal, restoration, attraction, visual appeal and norms in current studies indicate a prospect of an environmental indicator with cultural notions. The field study measured both preferences and the combined facets of the aesthetic perspective separately for power plant designs in a natural environment. The environmental indicator or proposed as the culturally related aesthetics (CRA) are represented by preference predictors of beauty, order, pleasant, legible, logical and interesting. The results found a one-dimensional culturally related aesthetics (CRA) factor. It was also found to be related strongly to preferences of power plant designs. The implication is that the environmental indicator termed as culturally related aesthetics (CRA) can be integrated as a dimension to predict preferences for power plant designs. The intention is to fit well the huge structure of an industrial building with the local natural and cultural landscapes in the area.

HARBOUR SITES IN RITUAL LANDSCAPE – THE EXAMPLE OF VILTINA IN SOUTHERN SAAREMAA

The location of landing-sites in cultural landscape seems to be determined predominantly by suitable natural conditions, in order to enable safe landing for the water vehicles. In case of harbour sites, the dimension of cultural landscape is added, meaning that the place needs to correspond to conditions that are important in the given society. However, the conditions vary depending on the function of the harbour site. In my earlier works I have demonstrated that, in the pre-state society, in addition to topographic indicators the choice of the harbour site was greatly dependant on the location of agricultural land in the radius of at least 5 kilometres. Archaeological sites in arable lands or in their vicinity enable guessing the one-time function of the harbour site. In addition to practical tasks (e.g. commercial harbour, fishing harbour, war harbour etc.), other possibilities that are more difficult to perceive by archaeological methods, for example a ritual gathering place, are suggested. Of the Estonian more closely studied Iron Age and medieval harbour sites, Viltina on the southern coast of Saaremaa Island seems to be the case in point (Fig. 1). [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] The settlement site of Viltina in cultural landscape The 18th century could be considered the beginning of the village of Viltina. On the cadastrial map from the end of the 17th century there are still single farmsteads (Estonian Historical Archives 308-2-64); however, a small hamlet named Filtin has already been marked on a map a century later (Mellin 1798). Of the single farmsteads from the 17th century the biggest and perhaps the most important one was called Koffera, a slightly smaller farmstead next to it bore the name of Murke. In the 17th century the farmsteads were situated approximately 600 metres from the coast. Both Koffera and Murke as well as other farms on the territory of later Viltina at the time belonged to the manor of Audla (Haucul), the centre of which was located at 7.5 km distance (Estonian Historical Archives 308-2-64). Since the rest of the farmsteads in the Koiguste Peninsula belonged to local manors, from the perspective of the local cultural landscape the separate coastal estate of Audla manor might be considered a slightly unusual feature. It is possible that the phenomenon can be interpreted as a remnant from the period when the surroundings of Viltina were still important as a harbour, which was administered by Audla as the oldest and the most influential manor of the neighbourhood. It is not known when the coastal farmsteads of Viltina started off. In the majority of cases identified in the Baltic Sea countries the farmsteads and villages of the second half of the Iron Age remained at one or two km distance from the coast. The permanent habitation shifted closer to the sea only in the 13th-14th century (see e.g. Crumlin-Pedersen 1996). The phenomenon is mostly explained by the activity of pirates, which was characteristic of pre-state societies and made the living too close to the coast dangerous. The situation changed with the formation of central administration that was capable of providing enough safety to the coastal villages. However, during the Middle Ages and later people never lived directly on the beach--the coastal villages of the time always remained at least 100-200 metres from the waterfront. Daily life directly on the beach would have been complicated because of storms, the rise of the water level and ridged ice. On account of the said, the archaeological settlement layer in the vicinity of the former shoreline is everywhere in the Nordic countries interpreted as a harbour site, even if its general appearance hardly differs from a common settlement site (e.g. Crumlin-Pedersen 1991; Nasman 1991; Christoffersen & Porsmose 1996; Ulriksen 1998; Magi 2004a, 147 ff.). The arable land of Viltina village is stony and not especially fertile; its quality is slightly better in the villages of Randvere and Asva, which lie 1-2 kilometres from Viltina in opposite directions. …

Sustainable Tourism Development Management of Local Cultural Landscapes

Abstract Nowa days, ecological and cultural tourism, especially those ancient villages and towns in China, have attracted an increasing number of tourists because of their unique cultural features. However, rapid development of tourism brings economic benefits, but results in a series of problems that threaten further tourism development and protection of ancient towns, such as over-commercialization and tourism urbanization. Taking Longmen ancient town as an example, this paper presented a sustainable way of preserving and developing resources of ancient villages and towns. First, identify cultural features and the extent of ancient villages and towns, and find the approach through which a cultural landscape zoning can be applied. Second, define a cooperative function area to release the pressure on core areas and protect their authentic cultures by extending tourism space. Third, balance tourism development with traditional industries to enhance the sustainability of community economies.

Refiguring the Colonial City: Recovering the Role of Local Inhabitants in the Construction of Colonial Bombay, 1854-1918

Refiguring the Colonial CityRecovering the Role of Local Inhabitants in the Construction of Colonial Bombay, 1854–1918 Preeti Chopra (bio) To understand the major role local inhabitants play in making a colonial city, we must learn to recognize the many ways that they presented themselves and also acknowledge the processes by which their contributions were obscured. This article takes up this general challenge by focusing on colonial Bombay from 1854 to 1918. It shows that what was at stake was not only the varied processes of building, including obviously Western stylistic influences on local architecture, but that the colonial government had the power to selectively read the cultural landscapes created by local inhabitants, rendering the landscapes of the latter as potentially inconsequential. Although other factors and players were important in shaping the city, in this article I will look at vernacular architecture and urbanism to focus on the role of the local inhabitants in the construction of colonial Bombay.1 Colonial Bombay was the product of the fragmentation of two modes of urbanism: the colonial and the local. In this article I will first highlight the impact of the colonial government's selective reading of the local landscape by focusing on the neighborhood of the Memon community. I then argue that, in contrast to the architectural regularity seen in colonial buildings, the coherence of "native urbanism" lay in the specific activity that took place in the space and in the community that dominated it. Following this, I suggest that the process of transculturation might be useful in helping us understand the Western influences on local architecture. I conclude by showing that only by taking vernacular architecture and urbanism into consideration can we refigure the colonial city, allowing us to see that it was not simply the product of the colonial regime but the result of varied processes of making and imagining the city. Selective Reading of Local Cultural Landscapes The British Crown acquired Bombay in 1661 as part of the matrimonial and military alliance concluded between Britain and Portugal. However, Bombay's real transformation took place after 1668 when it was transferred to the East India Company for an annual rental fee of ten pounds, as Charles II found it too expensive to govern. Under the East India Company these islands off of the west coast of India were joined together and expanded by dams and reclamations over the following centuries to form the Island of Bombay. The growth of the Presidencies of Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras in India were a result of the East India Company's well-defined strategy of developing land bases to facilitate trade. In the case of the East India Company, the broad outlines of this policy were to use naval power in the Indian Ocean and on the coasts of India itself, combined with the building of fortified bases as well as enclaves in English factory ports. This strategy was based on the calculation that the land-based Mughal regimes did not have an effective way of repulsing a sea attack. By 1709, the Company had permanent factories at the Gulf of Gombroon and Basra, major settlements in the Presidencies of Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras, and another large base at Bantam or Java to oversee the spice trade.2 While the island of Bombay had been under British control since 1661, Bombay's urban development began with the construction of [End Page 109] the Fort from 1715 to 1743. The Fort formed the nucleus of colonial settlement well after the fort walls were torn down after 1862 (Figure 1). The British and Indians viewed Bombay in different ways. These alternate readings of the city had great consequences, as the colonial government had the power to read and render local cultural landscapes as inconsequential, as we shall see in the case study of the quarter of the Memon community. Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 1. Plan of the City of Bombay, 1909. The destruction of the fort walls after 1862 opened up an arena for the construction of substantial public buildings fronting the Esplanade. The native town grew up to the north of the Esplanade after 1803. From The Gazetteer of...

Placing food/designing places

Food systems are both embedded in and constitutive of landscape systems. There are ways of linking food systems with the place-making practices of landscape design and planning. Food and landscape can be re-described as mutually constitutive systems operating across multiple scales and various cultural practices. Beyond the common notions of landscapes as bounded sites, formal gardens, aesthetic or visual scenes, landscapes are conceived here as complex, emergent, multi-sensory and diversely authored phenomena. Working with this conception landscape design is a synthetic and strategic art form that engages natural process and cultural practices, as well as the poetics and politics of place. From these re-descriptions that emphasize mutual interests, new projects and practices can be proposed to create “productive reciprocities” between landscape and food systems. On one hand, working with landscape strategies offers new ways of grounding food systems in spatial frameworks of regional ecologies and local cultural landscapes. On the other hand, working with food systems invigorates current design practices, such as preservation, and offers new potentials for making public places, sustainable ecologies and constructing cultural identities connected to the vital processes and practices of food.

Is Agrotourism ‘Agro’ or ‘Tourism’? Evidence from Agrotourist Holdings in Lesvos, Greece

ABSTRACT This study examines the impact of agrotourism on farm characteristics (income, farming practices, investment) and rural population characteristics (age, sex, permanent residence). Results show that even if the agrotourism program appears successful as far as income improvement and willingness to stay in agriculture is involved, most of the agro-tourist holdings in Lesvos operate in the margin of mass tourism with the same ‘customers’ and the same product, without connections with agricultural production, local products promotion, or environmental and cultural landscape conservation. Agrotourism in Lesvos is tourism operated by farmers, but it is not agro-tourism as the later is defined.

Playing Backwards

Playing Backwards

Indigenous terrains and the threat of cultural erosion

The author explores the conflict between indigenous and academic discourse, noting the extent to which the former continues to perceive television as culturally intrusive while the later discounts this threat on the basis of a wide range of studies which have empirically examined the issue. The author revisits these studies to demonstrate that while the arguments in each study refuting any significant transcultural effects related to television have been consolidated to form a meta-argument discounting this threat, those findings documenting effects have been left in isolation. The author proposes a new model of cultural erosion which, he maintains, better accommodates previous findings by framing the question with geological constructs associated with erosion. Four specific processes associated with such ‘cultural erosion’ are explored: Cultural abrasion, resulting from friction between the contrasting values reflected in a cultural terrain and a foreign media agent; cultural deflation, whereby those facets which are least consolidated within a culture are most vulnerable to foreign influence — a process facilitated by agents of displacement which can weaken consolidating factors within a terrain; cultural deposition in which foreign beliefs, practices and artifacts supplement the local cultural landscape potentially, at times, providing for cross-cultural fertilization; and cultural saltation, where social practices appropriate communication systems in response to the perceived threat of a foreign media agent. the author concludes with a brief discussion of potential policy implications associated with the new model.

The application of anthropological methods in general practice research.

I would like to discuss social anthropology and its relevance to qualitative research in general practice. Anthropology as a discipline was once rather generously called, in a BMJ editorial, most scientific of the humanities, and the most humane of the sciences. Unlike its sister discipline, sociology, it was developed among largely non-literate peoples at the time of Empire. Therefore, all the common sources of research data, completed questionnaires, written statements, analysis of printed material and psychometric tests were completely inapplicable. To deal with this situation, anthropologists developed a series of new research techniques. In a sense these were just the ordinary human skills of listening, observing, asking and exploring, but all elaborated in certain significant ways. The main technique was called 'ethnography', or 'participant-observation'. The anthropologist would live among a particular tribe or group of people for a lengthy period of time, usually 2 or 3 years, and would participate, as far as possible, in the tribe or group's daily lives, doing the things they did, eating the same food and taking part in the same ceremonies. The idea was not only to blend in with the local cultural landscape but also to understand it in a more holistic way by seeing the world through their eyes and experiencing it as they experienced it. In this way they could obtain what was called the 'actor's perspective'. For example, when studying a tribe in New Guinea, they would examine every aspect of its daily life, its behaviour, customs, rituals, religion, social organization, economy, diet, body image, marital patterns, relationships to the environment, symbolism, religion and myth. They also studied the complex relationships between beliefs and behaviours, between what people said they did, and what they actually did in real life. Anthropological research usually involved two stages. Firstly, ethnography was the very detailed and descriptive study of a specific group of people. In modern anthropology the 'tribes' that are studied might include a group of GPs in Durham, a clinic in London, a group of drug addicts in Piccadilly Circus, an ethnic group in Bradford, as well as tribesmen in the New Guinea