Cultures of Nature

Abstract

Geographers (both physical and human) have long been fascinated by how people relate to their environment, but have often taken the underlying concepts used to understand these relations for granted. Since the mid‐1990s a particular body of scholarship has challenged these taken‐for‐granted concepts. Research into “cultures of nature” analyzes culturally specific understandings of nature, in the process revealing that what we consider to be “natural,” and how we value it, varies culturally. This scholarship is best‐known for fascinating examples including the critique of the wilderness idea, indigenous understandings of landscape, and the examination of boundary‐making practices, both material (e.g., national parks) and conceptual (e.g., the dualism of “native versus invasive” species). There are strong complementarities between cultures of nature research in human geography, and the empirical evidence of human‐environment embeddedness in physical geography and archaeology. Why does this work matter? It matters because the way we think about nature becomes embedded in legislation and institutions that make a difference on the ground, and because the challenges of a world undergoing anthropogenic climate change demand new ways of thinking about human–environment relations.

Environmental Culture and Education: A New Conceptual Framework

“…In the past few decades, the study of the relationship between cultures and nature brought to light the concept of "cultures of nature", revealing that what we consider to be natural, the value that we give to it and the way we understand it, varies culturally. The way we understand nature in each culture is a major question since it determines our relationship with it and the way we live in our communities, defining our environmental impact (Head, 2017) (Ares-López, 2017). This concept is defined as clusters of beliefs, practices, and assumptions, historically and geographically situated, underlying the relationship between people and non-human living organisms or inanimate matter.…”