Outline of class session

  • Introductions
  • What is a landscape?
  • Breaking It Down: What is a Signature Course
  • Course goals
  • Syllabus
  • 10 minute break
  • Discussion of WJT Mitchell
  • Next week

Introductions: Tell us about yourself

  • Your name
  • Your intended major
  • Describe a landscape that you associate with the (or a) place where you grew up

So what is a landscape?


  • What kind of terms did you use in your description? Are there any provisional definitions of landscape we can draw from those?
  • An open definition--it will grow in the telling and in the study

Breaking it Down: What is a "Signature: Course

What advice in the Breaking It Down video do you think will be most helpful to you as you begin classes this semester?

Did any of the advice given by these students surprise you?

One thing Hanyue talked about was the importance of using your syllabi to keep track of your academic assignments.  What are your planner habits (and do you use a planner?) What are some things you use it for outside of courses?

In their discussion on note-taking, Natasha discussed a few strategies that might help you take better notes and, in turn, digest and engage with the material more thoughtfully.  What are some take-aways you have from her suggestions?  And where can you go for help with note-taking basics? (Answer: The Sanger Learning Center)

Andrew’s advice on breaking down large readings focused on making sure you not only have the dedicated time to complete them, but also on how you can engage in the material as you read.  Has anyone tried active reading before? What strategies do you use for tackling challenging reading?

Mia discussed the importance of understanding the course syllabus.  Let’s take some time now to go through it together so I can answer any questions you might have about it.   

Syllabus and Course Goals

Course goals:
  • Practice the ethnographic study of landscape using field visits, images, and written texts;
  • Outline the ways that diverse landscapes work together to produce the regions where we live and study;
  • Design independent research inquiry into landscapes;
  • Collaborate with diverse (and remote) groups in developing a comparative research agenda for the study of landscapes in distinct regions;
  • Identify the politics of place-making in two geographically distant regions with shared pasts of indigenous dispossession, resource extraction, and post-industrial reconfiguration.
  • Improve ability to write and communicate in both academic and non-academic environments
  • Use and access some of the key resources and gems of the University of Texas system for future research.

Course Structure:
  • Field based
  • Writing intensive--regular writing, revision, peer review
  • Global Virtual Exchange
  • An experiment!
  • How it will work
    • Collaboration between UT and the University of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia
    • Why does the course meet at night?
    • Asynchronous versus Synchronous meetings
  • Course Assignments
    • Short essays: (Blanton and 3 landscape observations)
    • Mid-Term Essay (pandemics and landscape)
    • Final Project (team and individual assignment)
    • Portfolio
  • Two platforms (I know, I'm sorry):
    • Canvas
    • This website: www.landscapeandpower.com
    • The password for this website is l&p2022
  • Office Hours: Tuesdays 12:30-2pm
  • Review of course syllabus

10 minute break

WJT Mitchell, Imperial Landscape

Why this text?

Break into groups. You've got 15 mins. In your groups:
  • Spend the first 5 minutes re-introducing yourselves.
  • What does Mitchell mean be his argument about changing landscape from a noun into a verb?
  • What, precisely, is he talking about when he argues that landscape is a "medium of exchange" and an expression of (limitless) value?
  • What is a "social hieroglyph"? Why is landscape a social hieroglyph? And what kinds of other things might be hieroglyphs?
  • How can landscape be "imperial"?

Next week:

Assignment:

  • Select a photograph of a landscape that you think relates (in, more or less, any way) to Edward Burtinksy’s work. It can be of any landscape and does not have to be one that you took (i.e., you can use something you find online).
  • Be prepared to share it in class (e.g., using screen share in a discussion, so have it handy) and be prepared to discuss why you chose it and what you think it demonstrates about the pictured landscape, the framing of that landscape, and our study of landscape in general.
  • NOTE—you don’t need to do any formal writing around this. But you may want to have some notes ready.

Read:
  • Jacob Cresswell. 2014. “Defining Place.” In Place: An Introduction. Wiley Blackwell.
Watch:

Review: class-notes for the session here on landscapeandpower.com

In Class:
  • We will discuss Cresswell’s reading and what it adds to our understanding of landscape.
  • We will discuss the images you selected.
  • We will discuss Manufactured Landscapes and do an exercise analyzing Burtinsky’s work.
  • We will discuss the Blanton Museum assignment (for next week)