Book Comparisons

Anne Whiston Spirn's book The Language of Landscape examines human interaction with landscape while looking at this interaction more specifically as a dialogue.  She argues that while we often think of our interaction with a landscape from more of a survey perspective, we are actually engaging in something close resembling a conversation.  There is a specific language of landscape which incorporates its own rules, references and metaphors which we can engage with in a meaningful way.  Just because we can engage in this dialogue, however, does not mean that we necessarily do.  Sprin states, "Blindness transcends the eyes.  Culture can prevent eyes from seeing and ears from hearing.  those who see nature and city as opposites or deserts and forests as disordered are blind to the natural processes in ctities and order in wilderness" (36).  She maintains that we are often too caught up in certain socio-cultural elements which can make us ignore the full range of language which a landscape uses.  A main point in the latter part of her book is to illustrate the danger of not engaging in these multiple levels of meaning, and instead approaching landscape without being open to what it can tell you.  This can lead to severe mismanagement which becomes detrimental not only to the landscape but also to human interests.  Examples include poor selection of grazing lands, the introduction of invasive species in an attempt to control certain animal/plant populations, and building in areas with soft soil or frequent tectonic activity.  

Desertification risk in Africa ( http://soils.usda.gov/use)

Another cogent point raised in The Language of Landscape is the difference in human perspective when it comes to landscape.  Depending on a persons cultural, historical, or professional background, a landscape can be viewed and communicated with in many ways.  A farmer sees a landscape one way, while a tourist might see it in a completely different way.  Many different needs and perspectives are present within even small populations, and these need to be in communication with each other.  She points out, "... there is always a tension in landscape between the human impulse to wonder at the wild and the compulsion to use, manage, and control.  And every nation has its 'native' nature,worked by physical and mental labor into landscapes, with which its people identify." (31)  

Protesters in South Africa over industrial takeover of their land (http://sfbayview.com/)

The other book I examined was Jennifer Beningfield's The Frightened Land: Land, Landscape and Politics in South Africa in the Twentieth Century.  In this book she looks at the way in which politics, land, and landscape have interacted in South Africa.  She explores how South Africans have experienced landscape throughout the twentieth century, and how these experiences have thus informed their culture, background and politics, and how these perceptions in turn change the landscape.  This notion is very closely related to Spirn's idea of the dialogue between landscape and inhabitants; how the two are interlocked in a cycle of projection which reinforces meaning.  This also shows how Spirn's recommendation of a more holistic view of the landscape can be implemented through taking a variety of approaches to it.  Beningfield also makes the point that "Landscape remains fertile ground for the debates about ownership, identity, culture, and politics in South Africa, and can help us to retain memory, conflict, and ambiguity." (2)  Landscape has thus been altered and stretched over time to fit people's various needs for community connection.  Although the book is focused on South Africa specifically, many of Beningfield's points about landscape resonate on a greater scale.  Her call for a more multi-faceted understanding of landscape echo Spirn.