Imagining Landscapes: Past, Present and Future (Anthropological Studies of Creativity and Perception)

4e de couv.: The landscapes of human habitation are not just perceived; they are also imagined. What part, then, does imagining landscapes play in their perception? The contributors to this volume, drawn from a range of disciplines, argue that landscapes are 'imagined' in a sense more fundamental than their symbolic representation in words, images and other media. Less a means of conjuring up images of what is 'out there' than a way of living creatively in the world, imagination is immanent in perception itself, revealing the generative potential of a world that is not so much ready-made as continually on the brink of formation. Describing the ways landscapes are perpetually shaped by the engagements and practices of their inhabitants, this innovative volume develops a processual approach to both perception and imagination. But it also brings out the ways in which these processes, animated by the hopes and dreams of inhabitants, increasingly come into conflict with the strategies of external actors empowered to impose their own, ready-made designs upon the world. With a focus on the temporal and kinaesthetic dynamics of imagining, Imagining Landscapes foregrounds both time and movement in understanding how past, present and future are brought together in the creative, world-shaping endeavours of both inhabitants and scholars. The book will appeal to anthropologists, sociologists and archaeologists, as well as to geographers, historians and philosophers with interests in landscape and environment, heritage and culture, creativity, perception and imagination Introduction / Tim Ingold -- Seeing Ruins : Imagined And Visible Landscapes In North-east Scotland / Jo Vergunst -- Scottish Blackhouses : Archaeological Imaginings / Tessa Poller -- Orkneylab : An Archipelago Experiement In Futures / Laura Watts -- Imagining Aridity : Human-environment Interactions In The Acacus Mountains, South-west Libya / Stefano Biagetti, Jasper Morgan Chalcraft -- Meaningful Resources And Resource-full Meanings : Spatial And Political Imaginaries In Southern Belize / Sophie Haines -- Imagining And Consuming The Coast : Anthropology, Archaeology, Heritage And Conservation On The Gower In South Wales / Kaori O'connor -- Imagining The Forces Of Life And The Cosmos In The Kelabit Highlands, Sarawak / Monica Janowski. Edited By Monica Janowski, Tim Ingold. This Collection Originated In A Panel ... At The Asa Conference Held At The University Of Bristol In The Uk Between 13-16 April 2009. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Cover 1 Contents 6 List of Figures 8 List of Tables 10 Notes on Contributors 12 Preface and Acknowledgements 14 1 Introduction 16 2 Seeing Ruins: Imagined and Visible Landscapes in North-East Scotland 34 3 Scottish Blackhouses: Archaeological Imaginings 54 4 OrkneyLab: An Archipelago Experiment in Futures 74 5 Imagining Aridity: Human–Environment Interactions in the Acacus Mountains, South-West Libya 92 6 Meaningful Resources and Resource-full Meanings: Spatial and Political Imaginaries in Southern Belize 112 7 Imagining and Consuming the Coast: Anthropology, Archaeology, ‘Heritage’ and ‘Conservation’ on the Gower in South Wales 136 8 Imagining the Forces of Life and the Cosmos in the Kelabit Highlands, Sarawak 158 Index 180