Nor does landscape mean simply a functional or legal unit such as a farm or a township Landscape, like culture, is elusive and difficult to describe in a phrase. The contents of culture can be itemized, although it one is meticulous the list threatens to grow to interminable length. Culture is not such a list. Landscape, likewise is not to be defined by itemizing its parts. The parts are subsidiary clues to an integrated image.
Landscape is such an image, a construct of the mind and of feeling.
Drawing from cultural geography, material culture, history, sociology, literature and film, this class will explore the landscape of the United States. In particular we will contemplate the complex relationship between people and their environmental context both historically and contemporarily. Beginning with early explorers and colonial attitudes towards the landscape, we examine the role of landscape in understanding the new Republic, we think in terms of region as well as urban and rural landscapes. As we walk through these historical and contemporary landscapes we consider how race, class and gender shape these landscapes in specific historical moments. Students will develop a strong sense of the various ways in which landscape can be understood through a strong, interdisciplinary focus.