Louisiana: A Geographic
Interpretation
Martha L. Henderson, Ph.D.
May 1, 2006
Louisiana – An Outsider’s Perspective
► Where
is Louisiana on the American
landscape?
► Geography
► Learning
at LSU
and living in a foreign place
American Landscapes
► Landscapes:
Legacies of Past Ideas and Ideals
Records of Culture
Representative
Symbolic
Inclusive of physical environment
Social construction
Fields of Landscape Study
► Landscapes
are bounded areas
► Multi-layered and temporally sensitive
► Located within a ‘grid’ of identifiers
► Comparable
► Varying value
► A set of relationships and processes
► Multi-cultural
► Interdisciplinary
Interdisciplinary Representation
► American
Studies
► Landscape Architecture
► History
► Anthropology
► Geography
Geography
► Not
the subject you learned in 6th grad
► The study of the surface of Earth, both
physical and cultural processess
► A social science
► The study of spatial relationships and place
► Place: cultural landscapes
cultural or political ecology
cultural geography
Geographical Studies of Landscape
► Culture
or political processes
► Cultural or political indicators
► Significant landscapes or places
► Formal or folk
► Where is it? Why is it? How did it become
this? Who are the major agents? What is
the structure
Department of Geography and Anthropology
School of Geoscience
Louisiana State University
► Physical Geography




Coastal Geomorphology
Climatology
Biogeography
Fluvial Geography
GIS
Berkeley School of Geography
“muddy boots geographers”
►
Cultural Geography - Dr. Fred Kniffen, LSU
The study of regional variation of material culture
indicators: architecture, religion, language, agriculture,
food, music, ect.
Tracing origins, transformations, integration, adaptation,
diffusion
Asking major questions about human creativity, evolution,
local vs global, sustainability, and resource management
Ethnographic Methods/ Field Work/American South/
Central American regions and landscapes (nonquantitative)
Louisiana Landscapes at LSU
► Studied
in conjunction with anthropologists
including archaeologists
► Mapping
diffusion of form and function
► Multi-cultural
and historically rich region
Louisiana: Where is it?
► Not
► On
part of the ‘western migration’ story
the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean
► Mouth
► More
of the Mississippi River
in common with remote areas of North
American than immediate surrounding area
Culturally Diverse
► Significantly
diverse cultures in a small area
 Native
 African
 European
►Spanish
►French
►British
A landscape created by external forces
Multi-culturalism and Landscape
► Representative
► Acculturation
► Cultural
cultural indicators/group
processes
transformation
► Ecological
processes and disaster
Material Culture as Indicators
► House
types
► Food
► Religious
practices
► Language
Coping with Natural Disasters
Over Time
► Extreme
Events
► Major
Events
► Minor
Events
Science? Technology? Metaphysical beliefs?
A Few Historical Events
► Interactions
► Classes
with native groups
of settlers:
 Landowners
 Labor pools – African/European immigrants
 Cajuns
Evangeline
St. Martinsville
th
20
Century Population Changes
Discovery of oil
Transition from ag economy to timber/lumber
production (ties to PNW)
Creation of petroleum industry
World War II impact on Cajun culture
Katrina: out-migration from New Orleans and
southern parishes
nationalization with military of petroleum
production region