Understandings of place
KGA172 Space, Place and Nature
Presented by Associate Professor Elaine Stratford
Semester 2
Screen clipping taken: 14/08/2010, 1:50 PM
Part 1
LOOKING BACK, LOOKING
FORWARD
Revising Lecture 2.11
1. 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.
2. Now look back at Slide 9. Which parts of the
image of St Helens correspond with which
labels from the shoreline profile?
3. What human impacts can you discern from the
image of the coast at St Helens? What
implications might these impacts have?
4. Define and distinguish between spring and
neap tides. How do tides affect coastal
processes?
5. Next draw a wave profile, labelling its
components and explaining how each operates.
You may refer back to Slide 12 from the lecture.
6. 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
Learning Objectives
Module 3 Lecture 1
• 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
KGA172
•
•
•
• phenomenological
• social constructionist
– comprehend and be able to
summarise content from a
case study of place local to
Tasmania
•
•
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
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
1.What is the author’s purpose?
2.What key questions or problems does the author raise?
3.What information, data and evidence does the author
present?
4.What key concepts does the author use to organize this
information, this evidence?
5.What key conclusions is the author coming to? Are those
conclusions justified?
6.What are the author’s primary assumptions?
7.What viewpoints is the author writing from?
8.What are the implications of the author’s reasoning?
[from Foundation for Critical Thinking]
Old Woman Reading a Lectionary, Gerard Dou
Part 2
METHODS FOR UNDERSTANDING:
REVISITING IDEAS ABOUT NATURE
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
Cresswell, 2004, p.2
Cresswell, 2004, p.2
A mutually constitutive relationship
• A two-way
relationship
• Cannot understand
sense of place
without
understanding
people and how the
two interact
Place
People
Methods of approach to understanding place
Quantitative methods
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Numeric and statistical
Controlled settings
Experimental settings
Scientific method
Deductive approaches
Nomothetic
Pursuit of laws, generalisation
Qualitative methods
•
•
•
•
•
•
Non-numerical
Natural settings
Interpretive method
Inductive approaches
Idiographic
Pursuit of patterns,
particularities
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
GENERAL
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
PARTICULAR
Interviews
Focus groups
Oral histories
[Auto]ethnography
Text, talk and practice
Part 3
ON PLACE
“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
The vocabulary of
place
genius loci
spirit of place
sense of place
placelessness
sense of
displacement
Venice from San Giorgio Maggiore. E Stratford
The vocabulary of
place
genius loci
spirit of place
sense of place
placelessness
sense of
displacement
Isola de San Giorgio Maggiore. E Stratford
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
The vocabulary of
place
genius loci
spirit of place
sense of place
placelessness
sense of
displacement
Colosseum trickster, Rome
E Stratford
The vocabulary of
place
genius loci
spirit of place
sense of place
placelessness
sense of
displacement
I was ‘here’
Meanings people
attach to place
Jacobs, 1999, p.22
Part 4
A CASE OF SPACE AND PLACE:
BANGOR, TASMAN PENINSULA
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.
Cresswell, 2004, p.8; see also Tuan
Liz Taylor (2005, p. 15). Place: an exploration. Teaching Geography, Spring 2005.
“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.
“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 grazing landscape. Of its 6,200 ha,
5,000 ha remain in a natural condition. The spirit of this place – its land and sea – is strong”.
Slide by Cynthia Dunbabin
Nature into Numbers