The Space of Culture – the Place of Nature in Estonia and Beyond

This volume sets out to construct a tentative bridge between the physical and perceived (academic) worlds, between the understandings of culture and nature, their spatiality and temporality by tackling the spatiality of culture phenomena across disciplinary boundaries. The contributions are arranged around a general question of how humans organise the spaces in which they live. The book is divided according to three themes: the humanities and ecosemiotic approach to nature, constructing nature, and examining environmental and landscape change. The first provides an historical review of the humanities and expands on the more theoretical themes. The second section discusses some ways in constructing (wild) nature with specific examples. The final one illustrates the changes that various cultures have brought about in the environment examining landscapes and domestication. The space of culture and the place of nature in various cultures are discussed critically throughout the volume in a way that challenges their ontological separations and invites to discuss culture-nature relationships on a more balanced basis. Notes on the Editors and Contributors 7 Acknowledgements 10 Introduction / Tiina Peil 11 Humanities and Ecosemiotics Eight Historical Paradigms of the Human Sciences / Roland Posner 20 Pre-modern Ecosemiotics: The Green World as Literary Ecology / Alfred K. Siewers 39 Foundations for Ecosemiotic Deep Ecology / Kalevi Kull 69 Constructing Nature The Positioning on the Landscape of Culture and Mind: Methods for the Social Construction of Nature / Maaris Raudsepp 78 Mapping Human Impact – Expanding Horizons: Interdisciplinary Integration / Morten Tønnessen 93 Writing the Environment: Finnish Written Nature Narratives / Kirsi Laurén 197 Landscapes and Environmental Change Changes of Environment in the Stockholm Region: Preconditions and Perspectives / Urve Miller, Jan Risberg, Sven Karlsson 122 Jōmon Style and Yayoi Style: A Worldview Transition within Neolithisation in the Japanese Archipelago / Junzo Uchiyama 136 The Civilising Hero, a Question of Domestication in Yakutia / Emilie Maj 153 Fire Cultivation in Estonian Cultural Landscapes / Liisi Jääts, Marge Konsa, Kersti Kihno, Pille Tomson 165 A World of Domesticated Landscapes / Mats Widgren 181 Index 186