Geo
626: SPIRIT
OF PLACE SPRING
2002
THURSDAYS 1:25 to
4pm Morrill 2--room 136, Version:
revised during 2001
Prof. Richard
Wilkie, office in Morrill 261 office hours:
Wed. 2-3pm and Friday 11am to noon
telephone: 545-2078,
email: rwilkie@geo.umass.edu
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Course
Description (Spring 2001):
This seminar explores the meaning of
“place” in the lives of people. Why
does a particular landscape or environmental setting move us, and what is it
that attaches us to those places? What
is the essence of these special and often sacred places? What are the universal themes that
repeatedly show up in the “literature of place” that connect people across
time, space, and cultural differences?
Early in the course it is important
to have each member of the class look within themselves to explore the meaning
of place in one’s own life, and to look at the development of your own “life
stream”, which ranges from early explorations and experiences with places up to
your present attitudes and relationships with both the natural and built
environments. Hopefully our discussions
about your own experiences--your phenomenological foundations--along with
discussions from the readings, will help to place your attitudes, values, and
experiences into a broader comparative context with how others relate to
similar or different kinds of places.
Finally, each of us individually--and the group as a whole--will slowly
develop a conceptual framework that will provide a philosophical and
intellectual base from which to explore the topic more completely in your major
paper for the course. Hopefully this
process of spiritual connection and understanding of the world around us will
be ongoing and continue throughout each of our lives.
Several more of the many questions we will
explore include:
• Why are
some people attracted to particular kinds of environmental settings, while
others are drawn to very
different kinds of environments and
places?
• How
have those who have thought seriously about places--ranging from the sacred to
the profane--attempted
to
describe or capture a “sense of place” or a “spirit of place” in their
writings, art, films, music, poetry,
photographs, sound tracks, or other forms
of communication?
• Are
there “ways of seeing”, “experiencing”, or “knowing” places from one’s past
that will help enhance future
interaction with all kinds of places?
• How do
individuals use our previous experiences or relationships with places to enrich
understanding of ourselves,
our communities, our countries and the world in general?
Lawrence
Durrell has written in his essay Landscape
and Character, “My books are always about living in places, not just
rushing through them. As we get to know
Europe slowly, tasting the wines, cheeses, and characters of different
countries you begin to realize that the important determinant of any culture is
after all--the spirit of place. Just as
one particular vineyard will always give you a special wine with discernible
characteristics so a Spain, an Italy, a Greece will always give you the same
type of culture--will express itself through the human beings just as it does
through its wild flowers” [N.Y.Times Magazine, June 12, 1960]. ......While
Durrell’s statement might be a little too deterministic, it is clear that in
his writings the spirit of place comes alive and is always at the heart of his
novels.
Thus
in this seminar we will explore not only how we individually relate to
particular kinds of places and spaces, but we also want to examine how travel
writers, novelists, artists, geographers, poets, historians, naturalists,
landscape architects, filmmakers, musicians, and others have communicated and
used their concepts of place in their work and lives. I hope too that we can explore the real world by taking a field
trip in May.
Required Books: (course books plus a course reader by
Richard Wilkie} (to be purchased from the Jeffery Amherst Bookshop Annex,
behind 55 South Pleasant St. in downtown Amherst.) 1. Yi-Fu Tuan, Space and Place:
The Perspective of Experience, Univ. of Minnesota Press, 1993 (paper). 2.
Gerald Durrell, My Family and Other Animals, New
York, NY: Penguin Books (paper). 3.
Henry Miller , The Colossus of Maroussi. New
York, NY: Penguin Books, 1990 (paper). 4.
Frances Mayes, Under the Tuscan Sun. New York,
NY: Broadway Books, 1997 (paper). 5.
Wallace Stegner, Wolf Willow. New York, NY: Penguin Books, 1990 (paper). 6.
Peter Sauer, Finding Home. Boston Beacon Press,
1991 (paper). ------------------------------------------------------------- Grading Policy for the Course: A once a week
course involves a great deal of classroom interaction and discussion. It is important that people come to class
each time to maintain a sense of continuity in the course. So please come to class each week! The
grading breaks down as follows: Note Also: Please provide two copies of each paper
when you turn them in during the semester. Since I photocopy some exercises to
give out to everyone, and I need one copy for my files, it is important that
you turn in turn in two copies. I am giving you a free copy from course readers
for a fair exchange. ABBREVIATED LIST OF SPIRIT OF PLACE TOPICS FOR
SEMINAR: (Spring: 2002) 1. Jan. 30:
Introduction & Course Overview: (Philosophies of Travel and involvement
with Places) 2. Feb. 6:
Favorite Places 3. Feb. 13:
Favorite Books about Place 4. Feb.20: Childhood and Place (Child Exploration,
Memories and Place) 5. Feb.
27: Ancient Wisdom about Sacred Places: (Sense of Place from Folklore, Place
Names & Historical Landscapes) 6. March
6: The Human Senses and Bonding with Places: Including Selected Visual Elements
of Place --Quality of Light, Color, Shape & Form, Patterns Visual Order
& Scale 7. March 13:
"Spirit of Place" through Film _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Spring Vacation (March 16-24) _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 8. March 27: How
Writers approach "Special Places" 9. April 3:
Pilgrimages Home and Elsewhere 10. April 10: Spirit of Place in the Human Built
Environment April 17: IS A MONDAY- NO CLASS II. 11. April 24:
Student Presentations Begin 12. May 1:
Student Presentations 13. May 8: Student Presentations or Field Trip 14. May 15: Course Conclusion: Making Sense of the many
Paradigms