This website will function as an open forum for discussion
of the topics raised during the Rutger’s CHAPS annual conference, Cultural Landscapes: Preservation Challenges
in the 21st Century.
Please post your reflections and further thoughts in the
comments section of the blog.
Looking forward for the CHAPS conference!
ReplyDeleteGreat presentations with great audience follow up. Provoked by the question of how we draw boundaries, Susan Denyer begins by acknowledging that boundaries are inevitably arbitrary; Nalini Thakur deepened the conversation asking us to consider how we go from discourse to the actual site. How do we administer? Manage?
ReplyDelete-Further comments included the need for adaptation, interpretation and reinterpretation. We should be less considered with preservation and more concerned with resilience.
-George Abungo tied this theme of boundaries to questions of pureness, and the dangers of this implicit assumption. Is there any purely natural landscape?
-Monica Luengo Anon commented that ‘society goes much quicker’ then say, advisory committees and Patricia O’Donnell pointed out that cultural and natural values exist side by side in the landscape, they are not binary, in opposition to one another but rather, sites with varying degrees of each. When we talk about nature and culture, we must consider the continuum.
Perhaps just semantics, but I would like to reflect on two things. First, Nobuko Inadba’s example of the word Bunkateki-Keeikan—a word that, literally translated, means ‘cultural landscape’ and, has been a part of the Japanese vocabulary for centuries. What can we learn from this example? Is this word then a form of intangible heritage? Does it demonstrate the heritage of ‘heritage’ as such? Also this earlier point about the inevitability of interpretation and reinterpretation of culture and heritage and the ways in which heritage is culture, constantly reinterpreted. Inadba also states that the creation of the UNESCO definition of cultural landscape created some confusion in Japan. Does this allude to the dangers of trying to establish and operate under ideals of ‘universal meaning?’
Second. I’d like to ask my friends up there at the top who are influencing and furthering the global discourse on landscape, culture, and heritage to reconsider what exactly we suggest by referring to the cultural landscape as “man and his environment.” A human rights approach must begin by acknowledging the other half of humanity. I hope that one outcome of this conference will be to shift to phrase “humans and their environment.”
-Morgan Campbell
Re: boundaries. As an environmental advocate (cultural and natural resource interests) I have developed an interest in boundaries and the valuable role they can play. The now 6 million acre Adirondack Park (a park larger than the state of Massachusetts with 50% constitutionally protected wild forest-called the "forest preserve"), 103 villages and hamlets in the remaining 50% including significant land used for sustainable silviculture was established in 1892 when the state legislature established a blue line to difine the park. The former State Forest Commission which was going to be responsible for this park, declared that making the park will take a long process and it has. At the park's centennial in 1992, a writer noted that the park has been in the "painful process of becoming a park" for 100 years. Phil Terrie wrote a book calling the park a "contested landscape". Phil also acknowledged in the early 1990s that the park was a cultural landscape. In recent years, the contested landscape has become more of a "common ground" for the park residents, managers and many other stakeholders as ways have been found to both articulate common interest and achieve common goals ranging from fostering broadband for the park residents to acquiring key portions of open space from forest companies (some land to become forest preserve and other of the land to have continued use for silviculture).
ReplyDeleteThe value of boundaries was recognized by Chuck Little who was an advocate for the notion of "greenline" parks as a way to position large landscapes for conservation.
New York State's Hudson Valley Greenway was established in the 1990s to include (with small exceptions) the full territory of counties on both sides of the Hudson River from New York City to the Village of Waterford in the north. The exceptions have been removed and territory above Waterford have been added to the Greenway at the request of local governments.
State and National Heritage Areas have also used large, inclusive boundaries in many cases (including a large portion of South Carolina, I believe the whole state of Tennessee and so on so forth.
What boundaries may cost in lack of "purity", they more than make up for by setting course for cultural and natural conservation engaging both the profession resource managers and the people of the land and communities within the boundaries. It may result in conflicts but the ultimate value of an area's resources and ability to resolve conflicts often can make the effort worth while.
Paul M. Bray (www.braypapers.com)
Occurred to me that some extractive industry discussion on industry's role in cultural landscapes management (protection, preservation, restoration, etc.) might something to consider for future fora.
ReplyDeleteDefinately .. the extractive industry does need to be engaged in the conversation as to mitigate their impact on values as well new / alternative industries as their infrastructure (wind turbines, wave turbines) have an impact on landscape values.
DeleteThank you CHAPS team and all the presenters and participants for an excellent, thought provoking meeting.
ReplyDeleteUpon reflection during the week I want to stress the construct of a culture-nature continuum, where both are present in all landscapes, with nature being the highest value in some, culture in others, and many times both cultural and natural heritage are present in tangible and intangible forms. I would urge CHAPS and the report out team to include this notion in our final conference report. And, I would also suggest that wording be looked at critically to not reinforce that notion of culture and nature are in opposition or exist in separation from each other. Those constructs are inaccurate, outmoded and a barrier to a sustainable future.
Thanks for your consideration, Patricia O'Donnell
Thanks to all involved for a wonderful gathering. Don't forget the Budj Bim Landscape in Australia is working towards a world heritage listing for its cultural landscape values as the world's oldest freshwater aquaculture system.
ReplyDeleteBest regards.
Damein Bell
Gunditjmara Country.