By imposing a meaning on a place is ones interpretation of space. During the time when palimpsest occurred, significant and spiritual beliefs, sites, symbols and traditional ways of knowing where disregarded which disempowered many clans and tribes around the world. In week 5 reading, Tuan (1991), p. 688 explains that in Australia, explorers and pioneers used the power of naming using English language to call a place into being over sacred grounds, where a tribes dreaming narratives and traditions were of most significance. Not only is this disempowering to the indigenous tribes but their dreaming narratives and centres of meaning were silenced.
A western veiwpoint has shown through time to have gained power time and time again. An example of this power play was described in (Van Luyn, 2013) described orientalism as" how the world is narrated from a western point of view and the east is the exotic other, it was a means of silencing the east."
Flickr being a place in the world of virtual networks provides a space for individuals within our world to open up and share their world view perceptions, imaginations, creativity, feelings and emotions.
This virtual network doesn’t hold deep spiritual connection to ancestors nor is it a historical space where archaeologists need to research symbols or interpret a lost language or literature. It holds many memories from the user and also spark a memory for someone else, it's where experiences within this place can be shared and art is created into a place.
This links shows another example of how other forms of art can provide meaning and space to equal place:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KcORj3N4vo.
Reference List
Tuan,
Yi-Fu. (1991). Language and the Making of Place: A Narrative-Descriptive
Approach. Annals of the Association of
American Geographers 81(4), 684-696.
Van Luyn, A. (2013). BA1002: Our Space: Networks, Narratives
and the Making of Place, Week 5 Notes. [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from
http://www.learnjcu.edu.au
Image
Two monologues | do not make a dialogue[Image]. Retrieved on 31 August 2013 from thetonguegetssharper.wordpress.com
Hi Jayne
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this blog. I feel you made some great points especially the point Tuan (1991) made regarding the Pioneers use of the English language to disempower the traditional owners - I also related your argument about silencing the Eastern Culture to our week three lecture regarding Maps and how the Mercators Map was an icon of Western superiority, with have Europe as the centre of the world map, instantly granting power to the Western society and silencing or shadowing the Eastern Society. :-)
Hi Jayne,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your post and thought your image and themes were really relevant. The quote to the week 5 lecture about the western view point dominating the world we live in, therby supressing the eastern narrative and labelling it as exotic; really made me think about our week 3 lecture as well(Van Luyn, 2013). The maps of the world are always centred around the where the power is, Europe is always at the centre (Van Luyn, 2013). I think the correlation between maps, language and power is perfectly demonstrated through the dynamics of eastern and western culture.
Reference List
Van Luyn, A. (2013). BA1002: Our Space: Networks, Narratives and the Making of Place, Week 5 Notes. [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://www.learnjcu.edu.au
Van Luyn, A. (2013). BA1002: Our Space: Networks, Narratives and the Making of Place, Week 6 Notes. [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from http://www.learnjcu.edu.au
Just popping in to make an (informal) comment - LOVE the pic you used in this: I think it speaks a 1000 words re narratives and relationships of power. Cheers :)
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