Tracing the Midcoast

Connor Benjamin

Landscape Carries More Value Than Money

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Landscape carries more value than money. Being an Economics major, W.J.T. Mitchell’s second “Thesis of Landscape” (Thesis #2) caught my eye: Landscape is a medium of exchange between the human and the natural…As such, it is like money: good for nothing in itself, but expressive of a potentially limitless reserve of value. I have never thought of a landscape beyond its physical structure. I always thought it was aesthetically appealing, but never thought to ask, “what is this landscape telling us?” In contrast, I never thought of money as “good for nothing in itself”. I always thought of its value, but never the reality of its physical structure: a piece of paper.

Now, those with a lot of money carry a lot of value and therefore a lot of power. But the reality about money is that not everyone can have limitless dollars and limitless power. There is an uncontrollable restriction on the power of money. On the other hand, a landscape carries a “potentially limitless reserve of value” and power. The power that a landscape carries is uncontrollable and endless. It has the ability to reveal human relations while being concealed, or protected, behind the “beautiful” natural environment depicted within a typical landscape. There is this sense of secrecy behind a landscape and its meaning, which only few can reveal and truly understand. While W.J.T. Mitchell used money as a metaphor to help us better understand a landscape, it appears he failed to discuss a landscape’s dominance over money in regards to the value it carries.

 

 

Maps Avoid the Iconography of Landscape

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Maps portray a landscape from an aerial view — and yet they can avoid the meaning and history, or iconography, behind the landscape. Landscapes can come in all different forms; they can be “in paint on canvas, in writing on paper, in earth” etc. In their Iconography and Landscape, Stephen Daniels and Denis Cosgrove said, “Indeed the meanings of verbal, visual and built landscapes have a complex interwoven history”. Well, I believe many maps fail to carry on the portrayal of “interwoven history”.

The map I looked at last week in Colby’s Special Collections room was created by The Atlas of the World. The map was of Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island and had a title of something along the lines of ‘Christopher Columbus’s Discovery of the Americas’. The title carries so much weight in regards to the history and meaning behind the landscape that the map is attempting to portray. However, there is nothing else on the map that helps the viewer to understand the iconography behind the true landscape that Columbus stumbled upon and discovered. In fact, the map uses its extra space to advertise the company – The Atlas of the World – rather than inform the viewer of the important material and story behind the map and therefore behind the landscape. I know it is difficult for maps to discuss the iconography of the landscape it is portraying because it is an aerial view with no depth (i.e., no foreground or background). But they should at least use the space around the map to expand on the title and share the symbolic and historical importance behind the landscape that sits within the map.

Maps Impact Space-Time-Compression

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I believe cartography and the development of maps have accelerated space-time-compression. Earlier in the semester we talked about how technology (i.e., vehicles – transportation efficiency, internet – communication efficiency) has compressed space and made our world feel smaller over time. Well, I think the development of maps may have had the same effect. J.B. Harley states, “The object of mapping is to produce a ‘correct’ relational model of terrain” (4).  Maps create relational space and suggest the distance and direction from one location to the next.

Before maps, no one had a sense of where other places were located; “were all the maps in the world destroyed and vanished […] each man would be blind again” (Harley 1). Someone who lives in Boston, may have heard of Los Angeles, but he/she would have no idea how far or in what direction the ‘foreign’ location exists. With maps in our world, people have an understanding of what is around them, how long it takes to get to various places, what is needed to get there, and in what direction to go to get there. In other words, people have gained an understanding of relational space and can now plan ahead to come up with the most (time) efficient methods of getting to different locations.

As maps were developed, cartographers started by first connecting their current location to the spaces near by. Slowly over time, they reached further and further away from their starting location, which made their “near by” space feel closer and closer. For example, the distance from Maine to Boston once sounded overwhelming. But as time has passed, relational space has developed and space has compressed, the distance from Maine to Boston sounds comical compared to Maine to California. Therefore, the development of maps not only created relational space but also increased space-time-compression.

In-Class “The Reach”

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Within Harvey’s concept of relational “spacetime”, I want to focus on his belief that “They [space and time] fuse into spacetime. Memories and dreams are the stuff of such fusion”. After reading King’s “The Reach”, I believe the story of  Stella Flanders and her loyalty to the island supports Harvey’s statement. Stella experienced life on the island before there was any communication between the mainland and the island. Personal lobster boats had to be driven to the mainland for islanders to cross the “Reach”. Considering this point in time, Stella grew a tremendous connection to the island. I believe, she actually adopted the island’s physical characteristics into her own daily feelings and actions. In other words, King repeatedly writes “she did not cry” which reflects Stella’s tough-as-nails attitude, similar to that of the island’s tough and harsh environment. As time passed, Stella continued to live on the island, experiencing happiness, love, sadness death and loneliness. She never wished to cross the “Reach” until her final day because she was used to the close-knit bonds and relationships between each islander; she was used to the space that felt like home; she was used to the daily pace of life (time) on the island. And her memories of husband and friends and the stories she carried on to her children and grandchildren dynamic and multi-layered. But the spacetime of which Harvey speaks of, gives her memories and dreams some clarity.

Revisiting Lobster Gangs

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As we discussed last week, lobster gangs are seen by American society as aggressive, fierce competitors who create mayhem by cutting each other’s lines and shooting each other’s boats. However, in reality, these lobster gangs cooperate and share information while remaining competitive and territorial. In Acheson’s The Lobster Gangs of Maine, he mentions, “Territoriality does not exist in any other Maine fishery” (3). It is this reality, specifically ‘being territorial’, that sets the lobster gangs ahead of those who fish for other species. Conkling states, “in the late 1980s – in contrast to virtually every other fishing resource in nearshore or distant waters, which have been decreasing – reported lobster landings began to rapidly increase in Maine” (200). Even though there has been upheaval over what appears to be “feudal control [by lobster gangs] over large areas of public resources”(Conkling), they have in fact protected and successfully managed lobster populations for generations.

Ben’s comment about the Gulf of Maine being the fastest warming body of water concerns me. As climate change progresses the lobsters will move north to find colder water. The Portland Press Harold informs us that lobsters have already abandoned Long Island Sound, retreating from warming waters (Woodard). I am concerned because as lobsters move north and out of Maine’s lobster gang territories, then the lobsters will not be protected or properly managed. The lobsters will be exploited because the public, who remains uneducated on and inexperienced with lobster fishing, will have full access to the valuable species.

Economically, the lobster gangs of Maine have slowed time-space-compression by caring for their lobster farms, not allowing the lobsters to be exploited, and therefore not forcing new markets to be introduced. As the waters continue to warm, I hope lobster gang territories mobilize north so the lobster market can be sustained.

 

Colin Woodard — http://www.pressherald.com/2015/10/25/climate-change-imperils-gulf-maine-people-plants-species-rely/

 

Place Must Adapt

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In the past, the world moved at a slower pace. Travel, communication, and expansion were all slow. Personally, I believe exclusionary mindsets and attitudes were significant characteristics of place in the past because of the lack of technology. People in one place had little communication or interaction with people in another place. Therefore, each place became unique. Cultures, beliefs, traditions, and practices all centered on the inhabitants of an area. There was a lack of exposure to other, varying lifestyles that in a way created ignorant people…and yet, more importantly, it also strengthened the authenticity of a place.

However, technology has developed exponentially and places with “rooted authenticity […] are increasingly unsustainable in the (post)modern world” (Cresswell 26). People have great accessibility to areas around the world thanks to faster, more efficient modes of transportation. As a classmate mentioned during our discussion last week, the increased number of tourists and decreased number of locals at the Maine Lobster Festival has led to a less authentic place. Now that people have the ability to travel and communicate easily and quickly, a place struggles to hold onto its culture, beliefs and traditions.

Some believe place will disappear due to the lack of authenticity. However, I believe place can adapt to the (post)modern world. People can continue to build personal, emotional relationships with a place as long as they are aware, and either accepting or able to deal with, external influence. Cresswell writes, “place […] is marked by openness and change rather than boundedness and permanence” which I interpret as today’s transformed definition of place (Cresswell 39). People will forever have personal connections to different areas of the world, and therefore place will forever exist. But place must adapt to the modern world just like humans have to adapt.