Understandings of place

1. Understandings of place KGA172 Space, Place and Nature Presented by Associate Professor Elaine Stratford Semester 2

2. Screen clipping taken: 14/08/2010, 1:50 PM

5. Part 1 Looking back, looking forward

6. Revising Lecture 2.11 Draw a shoreline profile and label each component, explaining the processes in which it is implicated and the effects that it has on the coast. Refer back to Slide 8 of the lecture if you need to. Now look back at Slide 9. Which parts of the image of St Helens correspond with which labels from the shoreline profile? What human impacts can you discern from the image of the coast at St Helens? What implications might these impacts have? Define and distinguish between spring and neap tides. How do tides affect coastal processes? Next draw a wave profile, labelling its components and explaining how each operates. You may refer back to Slide 12 from the lecture. Describe the difference between erosional and depositional coastal landform features, referring to as many different features and the processes which formed them as you can. Remember to use words that were in italics in the presentation. A Woman Thinking

7. Learning Objectives Module 3 Lecture 1 KGA172 Know and be able to (a) employ basic geographical terminology and concepts, (b) find, evaluate, analyse and reference appropriate literature, (c) contribute to debates about development and sustainability Comprehend and be able to explain spatial patterns, generate basic maps, field sketches and graphs, and communicate in written and graphical forms Apply key academic skills and (a) engage in critical thinking, discussion and listening, and in self-reflection and reflection upon the viewpoints of others and (b) research, plan and conduct fieldwork to collect data Analyse and interpret basic spatial, numerical and qualitative information Synthesize and integrate knowledge of social and Earth systems • be able to • distinguish between space and place, and describe variations on the ‘theme of place • understand and be able to explain the two approaches to the study of place • phenomenological • social constructionist • comprehend and be able to summarise content from a case study of place local to Tasmania

8. Textbook Reading Cresswell, T. (2004) Place: a short introduction, Blackwell, Oxford, Chapter 1 – Defining Place. Jacobs, J. (1999) The labour of cultural geography, in E. Stratford (ed.) Australian Cultural Geographies, Oxford University Press,Melbourne, 11-24. Plus Winchester, H.P.M. (2005) Qualitative Research and its Place in Human Geography in Hay, I. (ed) Qualitative Research Methods in Human Geography, Second Edition, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, pp.3-17 (available in MyLO). Critical reading What is the author’s purpose? What key questions or problems does the author raise? What information, data and evidence does the author present? What key concepts does the author use to organize this information, this evidence? What key conclusions is the author coming to? Are those conclusions justified? What are the author’s primary assumptions? What viewpoints is the author writing from? What are the implications of the author’s reasoning? [from Foundation for Critical Thinking] Old Woman Reading a Lectionary, Gerard Dou

9. Part 2 Methods for understanding: revisiting ideas about nature

10. Paradigm • A worldview shared by a knowledge producing community, such as the social sciences • A conceptual framework that sets the group’s boundaries, guides the questions to be asked and the methods that should be used to answer those questions • A never-innocent [value free] perspective

11. Cresswell, 2004, p.2

12. Cresswell, 2004, p.2

13. A mutually constitutive relationship • A two-way relationship • Cannot understand sense of place without understanding people and how the two interact PlacePeople

14. Qualitative methods Methods of approach to understanding place Quantitative methods Numeric and statistical Controlled settings Experimental settings Scientific method Deductive approaches Nomothetic Pursuit of laws, generalisation Non-numerical Natural settings Interpretive method Inductive approaches Idiographic Pursuit of patterns, particularities

15. Different approaches to knowledge Nomothetic Use of general laws to explain phenomena Used most in natural sciences Usually quantitative data and results Focus on classes of things, categories Numbers Measurement Presence/absence Classification Experiments Statistics Idiographic A focus on particularity Used often in the humanities and social sciences Usually qualitative data and results Focus on individual things, places, persons Attitudes, perceptions, feelings Interviews Focus groups Oral histories [Auto]ethnography Text, talk and practice GENERAL PARTICULAR

16. Part 3 On place

17. “place is space given meaning … and it’s given meaning by us” Liz Taylor (2005) Place: an exploration, Teaching Geography, Spring 2005, p.14. Florence, Italy. E Stratford

18. The vocabulary of place genius loci spirit of place sense of place placelessness sense of displacement Venice from San Giorgio Maggiore. E Stratford

19. The vocabulary of place genius loci spirit of place sense of place placelessness sense of displacement Isola de San Giorgio Maggiore. E Stratford

20. The vocabulary of place genius loci spirit of place sense of place placelessness sense of displacement Cini Foundation and Benedictine Cloister from Bell Tower, Isola de San Giorgio Maggiore. E Stratford

21. The vocabulary of place genius loci spirit of place sense of place placelessness sense of displacement Colosseum trickster, Rome E Stratford

22. The vocabulary of place genius loci spirit of place sense of place placelessness sense of displacement I was ‘here’

23. Meanings people attach to place

24. Jacobs, 1999, p.22

25. Part 4 A case of Space and place: bangor, tasman peninsula

26. How is space related to place? “space is the physical dimension in which things exist, while place is space given meaning … So place can be defined as a portion of space, with its unique mix of the built and [or] the natural, recognised by one person, or a huge group of people, as personal to them in some way” Liz Taylor (2005) Place: an exploration, Teaching Geography Spring p.14.

27. Cresswell, 2004, p.8; see also Tuan

28. Liz Taylor (2005, p. 15). Place: an exploration. Teaching Geography, Spring 2005.

30. “For me, my existence is entwined with the land, and I cannot help but be powerfully affected by its spirit. It defines my sense of place, my belongings in life. I am a steward of this land and I have a fierce passion for it, and a sense of responsibility towards it” Cynthia Dunbabin.

31. “Bangor is the place where I belong. It has been my home for 35 years; it’s where I live, work, learn, form relationships and relax; where I am a part of a family stretching both to the past and into the future; and where I am grounded in the natural world. Situated on the northern end of Tasman peninsula, Bangor is a forested grazinglandscape. Of its 6,200 ha, 5,000 ha remain in a natural condition. The spirit of this place – its land and sea – is strong”.

33. Nature into Numbers Slide by Cynthia Dunbabin