tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2299006518616360287.post7048121452846160858..comments2024-03-15T08:11:20.547+00:00Comments on Landscapism: Urban v rural: a false dichotomyEddie Procter (Landscapism)http://www.blogger.com/profile/10196792135158959223noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2299006518616360287.post-65350464503496043222012-03-13T18:14:40.943+00:002012-03-13T18:14:40.943+00:00An interesting take on this subject can be found i...An interesting take on this subject can be found in Fear of Farming by Caroline Wickham-Jones, which meditates on the changes that led from a hunter-gatherer to a farming society, and how certain pre-farming traits have never gone away and are resurfacing as we wrestle with redefining our relationship with the environment:<br />http://www.oxbowbooks.com/bookinfo.cfm/ID/88290Eddie Procter (Landscapism)https://www.blogger.com/profile/10196792135158959223noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2299006518616360287.post-81561255161890246602012-03-10T21:44:38.591+00:002012-03-10T21:44:38.591+00:00Hi Glyn,
Thanks a lot for your interesting commen...Hi Glyn,<br /><br />Thanks a lot for your interesting comments. I agree that many people lack empathy with the rural, natural and semi-natural environment. However, I come at this from somewhere in the middle; my childhood was lived on the edge of a small town and your experiences were the same as mine (minus the beach, this was the Midlands!), so I think that a lot of people from towns and cities can be brought up with the same sensibilities as those who have had a rural background. And I am even more sure that many from urban backgrounds could be the same, but suffer from a poverty of opportunity and expectation. <br /><br />Good luck with finding the right Masters course; could be in the cultural geography or anthropology fields?Eddie Procter (Landscapism)https://www.blogger.com/profile/10196792135158959223noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2299006518616360287.post-92030928406520815272012-03-10T13:42:17.080+00:002012-03-10T13:42:17.080+00:00Hi Eddie, I agree that the boundaries are softer t...Hi Eddie, I agree that the boundaries are softer than ever, but there is a major issue which I don't believe you have mentioned, but which I think has a massive bearing on this subject, and that is 'where you are reared'.<br /><br />For those of us brought up in very rural areas, where childhood was all, (not holiday time only), related to playing in streams, hiding out in woodlands and lying in tall grasses - exploring dells and spending all of our summer evenings on the beach and so on, I notice a huge difference between my sensitivities towards the countryside and nature compared with those brought up in the completely opposite environment, of streets, car parks, shopping malls, houses everywhere, cars everywhere, noise everywhere, traffic everywhere, tower blocks, office blocks - simply different demands from life.<br /><br />Now as we get older, and we travel more, and relocate many times, we may have to live in cities and city folk may sometimes live in the country, we do learn to blend more, we may even learn to appreciate pros and cons of both worlds, but I do see them as different worlds, and I still absolutely loathe cities and that lifestyle.<br /><br />We used to see many visitors come to live and retire in Cornwall, where I'm from originally, but within just a couple of years of moving down, a great number went back to the cities, as the reality of country life was not the same for them as being on holiday. They simply didn't 'feel' what the countryside is, they didn't have an empathy with the endless fogs, the dank dripping woodlands, the drizzly wet winter months, the closed cafe, the lack of 'entertainment' and so on.<br /><br />For many of us brought up in those rural environments, they were often the BEST bits about the countryside, where solitude and isolation prevailed - the absence of people and noise is the very thing many of us had in our blood, through nurture rather than nature of course.<br /><br />SO in summary, yes many urbanites may love the countryside, they may even 'need' the countryside, but missing those first twenty years or so of 'learning through immersion' IN the countryside, means that I genuinely believe there will always be a difference in attitude and empathy towards the countryside.<br /><br />(I am considering doing a Masters also, which will deal with this issue of the differences of attitudes and emotions towards wild places from people of opposite backgrounds. Where I can do an MA like that I have no idea, but I look forward to doing such research!)<br /><br />Best wishes and a good theme ! :-)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2299006518616360287.post-23062761987290058272012-03-10T13:34:33.981+00:002012-03-10T13:34:33.981+00:00This comment has been removed by the author.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com