scholarly journals The Landscape Imagination

1969 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
James Andrew Whitaker
Keyword(s):  
Historical Ecology ◽  
Environmental Changes ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
Ecological Research ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Cultural Contexts ◽  
The Past ◽  
Landscape Transformation ◽  
Research Programmes ◽  
Landscape Transformations

This article considers how the research programmes of historical ecology and Amerindian perspectivism may be combined and intersected to better describe the cultural understandings, agencies, and intentionalities that underlie the processes of landscape transformation in Amazonia. These research programmes will be discussed and interrelated towards points of contiguity and conjuncture. Historical-ecological research investigates the changing relationships between human beings and their landscapes across time. In particular, it considers historical examples of landscape transformations, which are anthropogenically derived environmental changes. Amerindian-perspectivist research investigates the relationships between human beings and other species within the cosmologies of Amerindian societies in the Amazon and elsewhere. The combination of these currently regnant approaches to ethnographic research among Amerindian societies provides new opportunities to better theorize the cultural contexts for the anthropogenic actions that lead to landscape transformations in the past and present. It also provides new opportunities to better describe how cosmological understandings are grounded in the processes that articulate human beings with their broader ecological contexts. This article considers these intersections and calls for further research with Amerindian societies that combines historical ecology and Amerindian perspectivism.

Indigeneity of Past Landscape Transformations of the Tropics

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Balée
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Historical Ecology ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Species Turnover ◽  
Continuous Process ◽  
Specific Reference ◽  
Swidden Cultivation ◽  
The Past ◽  
Landscape Transformation ◽  
Landscape Transformations

Indigeneity is the living heritage of traditional peoples. It includes not only their languages and cultures but their transformational etchings on landscapes—not just alterations in the form of inanimate structural changes of the substrate, as in the construction of earthworks and edifices, but sometimes changing the composition of the living flora and fauna. Archaeology is crucial to the identification of indigeneity in the past and in the analysis of landscapes and seascapes associated with it. Landscape transformations, from the perspective of historical ecology, refer to the turnover in species of given locales because of human-mediated disturbance. Primary landscape transformation denotes complete species turnover, whereas secondary landscape transformation denotes partial species turnover. In both cases, substrate alterations occur, but in primary landscape transformation these are qualitatively more profound. In order to understand landscape transformations, we might begin with consideration of geographer Carl Sauer’s comment (1963 [1925]: 333) that ‘We cannot form an idea of landscape except in terms of its time relations as well as of its space relations. It is in continuous process of development or of dissolution and replacement.’ Indigeneity is one of the factors involved in dissolution and replacement, which I refer to as ‘transformation’. Landscapes created in the past through mechanisms rooted in indigeneity are often called the ‘built environment’ by archaeologists. In many tropical forests, including those of Greater Amazonia, the Atlantic Coastal Forest, West Africa, Central Africa, Malesia, and Micronesia, both primary and secondary landscape transformations have noticeably affected the distribution of plant and animal species. In some cases, with specific reference to primary landscape transformation, entire forests came into existence, such as in the Llanos de Mojos, Bolivia and in Guinea, West Africa (see Fairhead, Chapter 16 this volume for more detailed discussion of anthropogenic forests in West Africa). Secondary landscape transformation occurred in the context of ancient settlements, the alteration of ridge tops, swidden cultivation, and resource management, such as in Pre-Amazonian forests of Eastern Brazil, Central African forests, and various forests of Malesia.

The Development of Archaeology in Africa

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nonofho Mathibidi Ndobochani
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Computer Technology ◽  
Historical Ecology ◽  
Human Mind ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Cradle Of Humankind ◽  
Work Done

Africa is the cradle of humankind, with the origin, evolution, and dispersal of hominids understood from this continent. It was not left out in the quest for knowledge on how human beings lived in the past, where they lived, what they used and ate, as well as changes that occurred through time. The development of archaeology in Africa, as elsewhere, had two aspects to it—the volume and inclination of work done as evidenced by extensive fieldwork and publications, and the change in approach that saw a shift toward philosophical and methodological concerns. Terminology broadened as there was a shift from merely establishing evidence of occupation and the presence of material culture, to studying the subtleties and processes underlying the material culture. The human mind is complex; it generated a dynamic material culture temporally and spatially, and notwithstanding the environmental impact on past cultures, humanity also colonized landscapes. Appreciation of an interchange between humanity and the environment became necessary to sync and contextualize the development of ideas, concepts, and worldviews, and whether they emerged from within societies or were externally influenced, they were shared across time and space—necessitating multidisciplinary approaches to studying the past. To an archaeological scholar in Africa, the problem is compounded. The study of the past has always been from an observer’s point of view, resulting in the call to “decolonize archaeology”—Africans were alienated in studying the past and the tendency was to have them not see this past as their heritage. Archaeology must be relevant to Africa’s issues of environmental management, food security, and socioeconomic challenges such as youth and women’s empowerment. What can the discipline offer? Is the archaeology of Africa accessible to its population, and do we see possibilities for an intergenerational beneficiation of Africa’s past? Most importantly, Africa still has a wealth of knowledge to offer in the study of the paleoenvironment, human evolution, food production and processing, historical ecology, multidisciplinary approaches, and computer technology. Their contribution to a better understanding of the rich, complex, and dynamic African past is of utmost importance.

The Plot Against the Past: Reuse and Modification of Ancient Mortuary Monuments as Persuasive Efforts of Appropriation

2015 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Continuity ◽  
Western World ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Cultural Contexts ◽  
Architectural Elements ◽  
The Past ◽  
The World ◽  
Alexander Kluge ◽  
Ancient Monuments ◽  
Point Of Departure

‘The were not for something in human beings in complicity with it’ writes Alexander Kluge (1990, 20) in The Assault of the Present on the Rest of Time. Kluge is concerned with condensed dramatic cinematic time and his present now lies several decades in the past. However, the image of an empowered present plotting against a defenceless past presents itself as an adequate point of departure. Reuse and modification of ancient monuments after extended periods of disuse—monuments herein defined as anything from monoliths and sarcophagi to large earthen mounds and wooden or stone buildings—are frequent phenomena throughout the world. Reuse can range from one-time visits and the placing of human remains and artefacts to the rearrangement of architectural elements and remodelling of entire structures. No cultural continuity is required (Bradley 1993, 117–21) for discontinuous reuse can bridge centuries and even millennia. Reuse of monuments is an ongoing phenomenon. Not only prehistoric monuments but also historic monuments have been affected. I therefore will follow Taylor’s lead (Taylor 2008, 24), overstep the disciplinary thresholds and not pay attention to a prehistory-history distinction. The term prehistory was only born in the early nineteenth century AD (Rowley-Conwy 2006; Taylor 2008, 2) and people who reuse or manipulate monuments do not draw lines between historic and prehistoric monuments. Additionally, the onset of modernity brought along expanded chronological constructions of time. How we from the so-called Western World look upon the past and our expectations of the future not only has made us more time conscious in relation to the present but entirely changed our conceptualization of time (Koselleck 2004). To historians and archaeologists time is stratigraphic and sequential. Archaeologists are concerned with fixing objects and events in their proper place and time. Today most people look at the past with a temporal depth to it (Dodgshon 2008, 6). However, the way we look at time is not how everybody else conceives of it. Different cultural contexts create different concepts of time (e.g. Lévi-Strauss, 1970, 16; Hirsch 2006).

Holism, Chinese Medicine and Systems Ideologies: Rewriting the Past to Imagine the Future

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Volker Scheid
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Chinese Medicine ◽  
Medical Humanities ◽  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Past ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Us ◽  
Shared Objective ◽  
Definition Of

This chapter explores the articulations that have emerged over the last half century between various types of holism, Chinese medicine and systems biology. Given the discipline’s historical attachments to a definition of ‘medicine’ that rather narrowly refers to biomedicine as developed in Europe and the US from the eighteenth century onwards, the medical humanities are not the most obvious starting point for such an inquiry. At the same time, they do offer one advantage over neighbouring disciplines like medical history, anthropology or science and technology studies for someone like myself, a clinician as well as a historian and anthropologist: their strong commitment to the objective of facilitating better medical practice. This promise furthermore links to the wider project of critique, which, in Max Horkheimer’s definition of the term, aims at change and emancipation in order ‘to liberate human beings from the circumstances that enslave them’. If we take the critical medical humanities as explicitly affirming this shared objective and responsibility, extending the discipline’s traditional gaze is not a burden but becomes, in fact, an obligation.

Adaptations of Time Travel Narratives in Japanese Multimedia: Nurturing Eudaimonia across Time and Space

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 136-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sung-Ae Lee
Keyword(s):  
Travel Narratives ◽  
Time Travel ◽  
Cultural Knowledge ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Past ◽  
Life Styles ◽  
Concern For Others ◽  
The Future ◽  
Live Action

To displace a character in time is to depict a character who becomes acutely conscious of his or her status as other, as she or he strives to comprehend and interact with a culture whose mentality is both familiar and different in obvious and subtle ways. Two main types of time travel pose a philosophical distinction between visiting the past with knowledge of the future and trying to inhabit the future with past cultural knowledge, but in either case the unpredictable impact a time traveller may have on another society is always a prominent theme. At the core of Japanese time travel narratives is a contrast between self-interested and eudaimonic life styles as these are reflected by the time traveller's activities. Eudaimonia is a ‘flourishing life’, a life focused on what is valuable for human beings and the grounding of that value in altruistic concern for others. In a study of multimodal narratives belonging to two sets – adaptations of Tsutsui Yasutaka's young adult novella The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and Yamazaki Mari's manga series Thermae Romae – this article examines how time travel narratives in anime and live action film affirm that eudaimonic living is always a core value to be nurtured.

Dietary and living regimen of covid-19 with special reference to Ayurveda Varsha and Sharad Ritucharya

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (SPL1) ◽  
pp. 758-762
Author(s):  
Amit Biswas ◽  
KunalChandankhede
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Changes ◽  
World Health ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Dietary Regimen ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Disease Free ◽  
Individual Disease ◽  
Morbid Conditions

Wuhan originated Covid-19 disease is caused by SARC-COV 2 virus. It is a contagious disease it spread all over the world. World health organization declared a global pandemic disease. In Covid-19 immunity plays an important role. In old age people or having other co-morbid conditions the mortality rate is more. Ayurveda has a big role in improved immunity or to intact immunity. The principle of Ayurveda is to keep individual swastha (diseases free). To maintain individual disease-free Ritucharya is one of the important subjects of Ayurveda. Aimed of study is to find out Ritucharya literature from the Ayurveda and modern research specifically Varsha and Sharad ritu. Ritucharya contains dietary regimen, living modification, common medicine, and contraindicated things those changing according to environmental change. Upcoming season in India is Varsha and Sharad ritu. Environmental changes are huge in this season and it directly affected human beings. So this study reveals property of ritu, dietary regimen, living modification, common medicine and contraindicated things in upcoming varsha and sharad ritu.

Determinants of Trading Decision: An Experiential Examination

GIS Business ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Gunjan Sharma ◽  
Tarika Singh ◽  
Suvijna Awasthi
Keyword(s):  
Stock Market ◽  
Capital Markets ◽  
Capital Market ◽  
Capital Mobility ◽  
Influential Factors ◽  
Herd Behavior ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Government ◽  
Indian Stock Market

In the midst of increasing globalization, the past two decades have observed huge inflow of outside capital in the shape of direct and portfolio investment. The increase in capital mobility is due to contact between the different economies across the globe. The growing liberalization in the capital market leads to the growth of various financial products and services. Over the past decade, the Indian capital market has witnessed numerous changes in the direction of developing the capital markets more robust. With the growing Indian economy, the larger inflow of funds has been fetched into the capital markets. The government is continuously working on investor’s education in order to increase retail participation in the Indian stock market. The habits of the risk-averse middle class have been changing where these investors started participating in the Indian stock market. It is an explored fact that human beings are irrational and considering this fact becomes imperative to investigate factors that influence the trading decisions. In this research, ‘an attempt has been made to investigate various factors that affect the individual trading decision’. The data has been collected from various stockbroking firms and from clients of those stockbroking firms their opinions were recorded by means of a questionnaire. Data collected through the structured questionnaire, 33 questions were prepared which was given to the 330 respondents on the basis of convenience sampling out of which 220 individuals filled questionnaire, the total of 200 questionnaires was included in the study after eliminating the incomplete questionnaire. Various factors are being explored from the literature and then with the help of factor analysis some of the most influential factors have been explored. Factors like overconfidence, optimism, cognitive bias, herd behavior, advisory effect, and idealism are the factors which influenced the trading decision of the investors the most. Such kind of a study is contributing in the area of behavioral finance as a trading decision is an important aspect while investing in the stock market. And this kind of study would be helping and assisting financial advisors to strategies for their clients in making the right allocation and also the policy maker and market regulators to come up with better reforms for the Indian stock markets.

Sind Lügenkonzepte kulturabhängig?

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-42
Author(s):  
Jörg Meibauer
Keyword(s):  
Human Beings ◽  
Cultural Contexts ◽  
Communicative Act ◽  
Collectivist Cultures

We can distinguish a minimalist and a maximalist concept of lying. Whilst the former assumes that lying is the same communicative act for all human beings but can be used in a different way according to social and cultural contexts, the latter holds that there are as many different concepts of lying as there are different social and cultural configurations in which lies are used. In particular, some researchers claim that Asian (collectivist) cultures possess different concepts of lying than Western (individualist) cultures. When carefully looking at pertinent studies, it appears that the concept of lying as constituting a violation of the first submaxim of Quality according to Grice is a good candidate for a minimalist (universal) concept of lying.

Recent Nanocarrier Approaches for Targeted Drug Delivery in Cancer Therapy

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rohit Bhatia ◽  
Amit Sharma ◽  
Raj Kumar Narang ◽  
Ravindra K. Rawal
Keyword(s):  
Drug Delivery ◽  
Polymeric Micelles ◽  
Mesoporous Silica Nanoparticles ◽  
Treatment Strategies ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Past ◽  
Organ Systems ◽  
Metal Organic ◽  
Continuous Progress ◽  
Chemotherapeutic Treatment

: Cancer is one of the most serious health concerns in 21st century whose prevalence is beyond boundaries and can affect any organ of human beings. The conventional chemotherapeutic treatment strategies lack specificity to tumours and are associated with toxic effects on immune system and other organ systems. In the past decades, there has been a continuous progress in the development of smart nanocarrier systems for target specific delivery of drugs against variety of tumours including intracellular gene-specific targeting. These nanocarriers are able to recognize the tumour cells and deliver the therapeutic agent in fixed proportions causing no or very less harm to healthy cells. Nanosystems have modified physicochemical properties, improved bioavailability and long retention in blood which enhances their potency. A huge number of nanocarrier based formulations have been developed and are in clinical trials. Nanocarrier systems include polymeric micelles, liposomes, dendrimers, carbon nanotubes, gold nanoparticles, etc. Recent advancements in nanocarrier systems include mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs), metal organic frame works and quantum dots. In the present review, various nanocarrier based drug delivery systems along with their applications in the management of cancer have been described with special emphasis on MSNs.

Dimensi Edukatif pada Kisah-Kisah Al-Qur'an

SUHUF ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-83
Author(s):  
Novita Siswayanti
Keyword(s):  
Teaching Methods ◽  
Religious Values ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Learning Materials ◽  
Transformative Power ◽  
Amount Of Information ◽  
Vast Amount ◽  
The Past ◽  
Religious Text ◽  
The Future

The stories in Qur'an are Allah’s decrees which convey more beau-tiful values beyond any religious text ever written. It is the holiest scripture and is written  in a wonderful, understandable, and attract-ive language humbly conveying a vast amount of information about life and events that happened in the past. It’s aim is to be an object of reflection for human beings living in this age and the future. Even more so, the stories in Al-Qur'an also entail an educative function providing learning materials,  and teaching methods, regarding the transformative power of Islam and the internalization of true religious values.

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