The temporality of the landscape

Document Type : Translation

Authors

1 Department of Social Anthropology, University of Manchester, UK.

2 Islamic Azad University Central Tehran Branch, Iran

3 Azad Shoushtar University, Iran.

Abstract

Landscape and temporality are the major unifying themes of archaeology and social-cultural
anthropology. This paper attempts to show how the temporality of the landscape may be understood
by way of a 'dwelling perspective' that sets out from the premise of people's active, perceptual
engagement in the world. The meaning of 'landscape' is clarified by contrast to the concepts of land,
nature and space. The notion of 'taskscape' is introduced to denote a pattern of dwelling activities,
and the intrinsic temporality of the taskscape is shown to lie in its rhythmic interrelations or patterns
of resonance. By considering how taskscape relates to landscape, the distinction between them is
ultimately dissolved, and the landscape itself is shown to be fundamentally temporal. Some concrete
illustrations of these arguments are drawn from a painting by Bruegel, The Harvesters

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