Conversations With Landscape (Anthropological Studies of Creativity and Perception)

"Conversations With Landscape" moves beyond the conventional dualisms associated with landscape, exploring notions of landscape and its relation with humans through the metaphor of conversation. Such an approach conceives of landscape as an actor in the ongoing communication that is inherent in any perception, recognising the often-ignored mutuality of encounters between human and non-human actors. With contributions drawn from a variety of disciplines, including anthropology, geography, archaeology, philosophy, literature and the visual arts, this book explores the affects and emotions engendered in the conversations between landscape and humans. Offering scope for an original and coherent approach to the study of landscape, this book will appeal to scholars and researchers across a range of social sciences and humanities Cover......Page 1 Contents......Page 6 List of Figures......Page 8 List of Contributors......Page 10 Preface and Acknowledgements......Page 14 1 Introduction: Starting a Conversation with Landscape......Page 16 2 Conversations with Ourselves in Metaphysical Experiences of Nature......Page 28 3The Limits of our “Conversations with Nature”......Page 42 4 Landscape as Conversation......Page 60 5 Time for Fluent Landscapes......Page 74 6 Grief Paves the Way......Page 94 7 Slipping into Landscape......Page 112 8 Landscape and Aesthetic Values: Not Only in the Eye of the Beholder......Page 124 9 The Sublime, Ugliness and “Terrible Beauty” in Icelandic Landscapes......Page 140 10 Transporting Nature: Landscape in Icelandic Urban Culture......Page 152 11 Ways of Addressing Nature in a Northern Context: Romantic Poet and Natural Scientist Jónas Hallgrímsson......Page 172 12 A Stroll through Landscapes of Sheep and Humans......Page 188 13 Sentience......Page 208 14 The Empty Wilderness: Seals and Animal Representation......Page 226 15 Aurora Landscapes: Affective Atmospheres of Light and Dark......Page 242 16 Epilogue......Page 256 Index......Page 268 Introduction : starting a conversation with landscape / Katrín Anna Lund and Karl Benediktsson Conversations with ourselves in metaphysical experiences of nature / Sigridur Thorgeirsdottir The limits of our conversations with nature / Gabriel Malenfant Landscape as conversation / Edda R. H. Waage Time for fluent landscapes / Oscar Aldred Grief paves the way / Arnar Árnason Slipping into landscape / Katrín Anna Lund and Margaret Willson Landscape and aesthetic values : not only in the eye of the beholder / Guðbjörg R. Jóhannesdóttir The sublime, ugliness, and terrible beauty in icelandic landscapes / Emily Brady Transporting nature : landscape in icelandic urban culture / Anna Jóhannsdóttir and Ástráður eysteinsson Ways of addressing nature in a northern context : Romantic poet and natural scientist Jónas Hallgrímsson / Sveinn Yngvi Egilsson A stroll through landscapes of sheep and humans / Karl Benediktsson Sentience / Anne Brydon The empty wilderness : seals and animal representation / Bryndís Snæbjörnsdóttir and Mark Wilson Aurora landscapes : affective atmospheres of light and dark / Tim edensor Epilogue / Tim Ingold. Collectively the essays of Conversations With Landscape create an innovative landscape of their own, refusing to take landscape and human engagement with it for granted. Indeed, there is much to explore. These are fascinating tales - theoretical, ethnographic, and historical - about the moving landscape. Not only is it forever changing, it touches people in a variety of ways Gisli Palsson, University of Iceland, Iceland --Book Jacket. The central theme is clear and persuasive, the focus on northern landscapes fascinating throughout. Conversations With Landscape offers a consistently excellent set of essays which will be welcomed and widely read by anthropologists, cultural geographers, visual and aesthetic theorists, and, in particular, the wide interdisciplinary community of landscape scholars and students John Wylie, University of Exeter, UK.