Environmental &

Architectural
Phenomenology
Vol. 34 ▪ No. 2 ISSN 1083–9194 Summer/Fall ▪ 2023

T
his issue of EAP completes 34 world, a theme he explored in summer/fall the phenomenon is understood and experi-
years of publication and begins 2022 and winter/spring 2023 EAP entries. enced via both everyday and extreme envi-
with items of interest and cita- Wood’s focus is the phenomenon of jizz— ronmental situations and events. Relph
tions received. Next is a book the singular presence of a living being in- points out that phenomenological studies
note on architect Miguel Guitart’s Behind stantly recognizable without the involve- of localities might be one important source
Architectural Filters (2022), which fo- ment of conscious attention. Wood’s focus helping to facilitate adaptations to climate
cuses on the experiential relationships be- is the jizz of birds and what such a mode of change in particular places.
tween buildings’ exteriors and interiors. identification offers ornithology. In the third essay this issue, philosopher
This issue includes four essays. First, zo- In a second essay, geographer Edward Robert Josef Kozljanič overviews the
ologist Stephen Wood continues his con- Relph considers aspects of a phenomenol- study of genius loci (sense of place), giving
sideration of encountering the natural ogy of climate change by examining how particular attention to recent research by,
among others, Gernot Böhme, Tonino
Griffero, Edward Relph, Hermann
Schmitz, David Seamon, and Tomáš
Valena. Kozljanič points out that all
these researchers “take pre-theoretical
lifeworld experiences seriously and use
a new phenomenological approach in
which the concept of lived space, felt
body, and spatially manifest atmos-
pheres is important or even crucial.”
The last essay this issue is artist and
place researcher Victoria King’s ac-
count of her lifelong search for veracity
via intellectual and artistic striving. She
recounts her Australian experiences
with indigenous women of the Outback
and their work in sand painting. She ex-
plains how, for traditional Aboriginal
communities, “art, country, spirituality,
and kinship relationships are all inter-
connected.” King gives particular atten-
tion to the paintings of Emily Kngwar-
reye (c. 1910–1996), an elderly woman
artist from Utopia, an area of 16 small
Aboriginal communities spread across
2,400 kilometers in Australia’s red, arid
interior.

Left: Floating World, Victoria King,

oil on canvas, 40 x 40 cm. See King’s
essay, “A Place Called Utopia,” in
this EAP issue, p. 25.
 fordable and the sublime”; Elodie Bou-
Items of interest blil’s “Healing the lifeworld: On personal
Chinese translation, Geography
The 19th annual International Associa- and collective individuation”; Annika of the Lifeworld
tion for the Study of Traditional Envi- Schlitte’s “Lines made by walking—the David Seamon’s A Geography of the
ronments (IASTE) will be held in Riyadh, aesthetic experience of landscape”; and Lifeworld (1979, reprinted 2015) has been
Saudi Arabia, January 5–9, 2024. The con- David Seamon’s “Moments of realiza- published in Chinese translation. Chinese
ference theme is “The Dynamism of Tradi- tion: Extending homeworld in British-Af- geographer Dr. Shangyi Zhou initiated
tion” and relates to IASTE’s definition of rican novelist Doris Lessing’s Four-Gated this project, and Chinese doctoral student
tradition as “a dynamic project for the re- City.” This issue of CPT is open source Huihui Gao contributed to the translation.
interpretation of the past in light of the pre- and available at: The book is published by Beijing Normal
sent and often in the service of the future.” https://link.springer.com/jour- University Press. The ISBN is 978-7-303-
One conference aim is to facilitate “dia- nal/11007/volumes-and-issues/55-4. 27114-6.
logue on the process of understanding how
traditions emerge in the current modern Three books by Tim Ingold
world and how they may have changed
over a short period of time to deal with the Routledge Publishing has reprinted two
rapid pace of globalization and infor- books by Tim Ingold, the British social
mation technology in the 21st century.” co- anthropologist who has made important
[email protected]. contributions to phenomenological think-
ing about places and environmental expe-
The Architectural Humanities Research rience.
Association (AHRA) sponsors research Originally published in
examining experiential and cultural as- 2000, The Perception
pects of buildings and architectural mean- of the Environment
ing. AHRA’s 20th-annual conference fo- considers how human
cuses on “Situated Ecologies of Care” and beings perceive and
will be held at the UK’s Portsmouth School encounter their sur-
of Architecture, October 25–27, 2023. The roundings. The focus is
group’s current newsletter and conference how people inhabit and
information are available at: https://ahra- dwell in their environ-
architecture.org/. ments as this dwelling
has both biological and
Published monthly since 2002, the News- cultural determinants.
letter of Phenomenology is a partner of First published in
the Open Commons of Phenomenology 2011, Being Alive con-
and presents information relating to phe- siders aspects of every-
nomenological research. Its major themes day human living, in-
of coverage are: (1) upcoming events and cluding the lived na-
conferences; (2) new books; (3) recent ture of making things Citations received
journal publications; and (4) general news.
Readers are welcome to submit relevant
and the role of weather Julio Bermudez, 2023. Spirit-
in human life.
entries. http://newsletter-phenomenol- Published in 2022, uality in Architectural Educa-
ogy.ophen.org/archives. Imagining for Real is tion. Washington, DC: Catho-
related to these two re- lic University of America
prints and considers Press.
Lifeworld studies how imagination plays
The December 2022 Continental Philoso- a role in our perception Chapters in this edited volume describe ar-
phy Review is a special issue devoted to of the world. chitectural-design studios dealing with
“Varieties of the Lifeworld: Phenomenol- Routledge has pub- various aspects of spirituality. Contribu-
ogy and Aesthetic Experience.” Edited by lished these three tors include Craig W. Hartman, Juhani
Iulian Apostolescu and Stefano Marino, books as a set, which is Pallasmaa, Alberto Campo Baeza, Clau-
the eight articles include Günter Figal’s described as an “extraordinary intellectual dio Silvestrin, Eliana Bórmida, Michael
“Lifeworld art: Husserl’s Crisis book and project of one of the world's most re- J. Crosbie, Prem Chandavarkar, Rick
beyond”; Shaun Gallagher’s “The unaf- nowned anthropologists.” Joy, Susan Jones, and Daniel Libeskind.

2
Galen Cranz, 2020. The Poli- companies and consumers will be balanced discussion of the porch in the lives of Ra-
tics of Park Design: A History with those of workers and citizens…. De- chel Carson, Wendell Berry, Eudora
centralized technologies in the hands of Welty, Zora Neale Hurston, John Dewey,
of Urban Parks in America. more people will allow for new kinds of Louis Kahn, and Paul Strand. As explained
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press; bottom-up, locally driven growth.” Below in the sidebar below, Hailey identifies four
originally published 1982 and is Foroohar’s description of “Anywheres” key qualities of life-enhancing porches—
now open-access. and “Somewheres.” tilt, air, screen, and blue.

“Anywheres” & “Somewheres” Essence and paradox

Out of print for several years, this sociolo-
gist’s book is a seminal text in the fields of
park history and urban studies. Cranz iden- [Anywheres] are the global techno- As an architect, I am fascinated with
tifies four shifting conceptions of Ameri- crats, who include not only rich how porches are built, how they func-
can park design: Pleasure grounds (1850– elites… but also the international tion, and what their built form means.
1900); reform parks (1900–1930); recrea- class of technocratic policy makers, Building a porch taps into the time-
tional facilities (1930–1965); and open- executives, think tankers, literary less, elemental lessons of archetypes
space systems (1965–2010). types, and all the other “meritocrats” like Marc-Antoine Laugier’s hut,
In a new preface to the open-source edi- who have climbed up the slippery Henry David Thoreau’s cabin, and
tion, she reviews recent research on parks pole of twenty-first-century success Gottfried Semper’s origins of archi-
and identifies the latest conception of de- and are now knowledge workers who tecture in mound, hearth, enclosure,
sign and planning: Sustainable parks can live anywhere and be employed and roof. A porch must also negotiate
(2010–). Cranz identifies three key fea- most anywhere. equally fundamental edges of archi-
tures of these parks: (1) resource self-suf- Somewheres are the people for tecture, where experience tempers es-
ficiency; (2) integration with the larger ur- whom globalization has been hard. sence and building yields to nature.
ban system to solve problems beyond the They are typically (though not al- I think there are four core elements
park’s borders; (3) new modes of aesthetic ways) less educated, more traditional, to thinking about a porch, each carry-
expression also applicable to other public and far more place-bound, sometimes ing porch’s essence and paradox: tilt,
spaces. The open-access digital edition is by choice, but often by force. air, screen, and blue. Tilt works from
available at https://di- They are rooted where they live for the basic premise that slope yields
rect.mit.edu/books/oa-mono- myriad reasons, some having to do balance. Air mixes freshness with
graph/5052/The-Politics-of-Park- with a lack of nationally or interna- conditioning and public with private.
DesignA-History-of-Urban. tionally marketable skills or of Screen maintains openness with en-
enough money to move to where bet- closure. Blue makes the invisible visi-
Rana Foroohar, 2022. Home- ter jobs are, but also because of the ble and finds intersections of the ac-
presence of family communities and tual and the imagined.
coming: The Path to Prosper- clans that have helped support an oth- These four elements demonstrate
ity in a Post-Global World. erwise precarious life… or simply be- the fundamental nature of the porch to
NY: Crown. cause they are more committed to our humanity, as they also build a
their own cultural and community case for the porch as an indispensable
Place regeneration appears in many differ- than your average upper-middle-class site to feel, understand, and address
ent venues recently, and this Financial American college graduate who is climate and its changes. As a whole,
Times business columnist highlights this ready to move wherever the next pro- they tell a story of dwelling and
topic economically by arguing that wealth motion takes her (pp. 196–97). home, resilience and acclimation (p.
must be shared more broadly via realizing 4).
that “economic well-being isn’t just about
growth at the international or even national Charlie Hailey, 2021. The
level, but rather about real people, human Porch: Meditations on the
beings living in specific communities. Peo- Edge of Nature. Chicago:
ple matter. Place matters. All places.” Univ. of Chicago Press.
In summarizing this shift to a regional
and place-based economics, Foroohar en- This architect provides an “armchair ex-
visions “a far greater number and variety ploration of past porches and those of the
of communities becoming economic hubs future, moving from ancient Greece to con-
as both policy and business models push temporary Sweden, from the White House
back against the existing trends of central- roof to the Anthropocene home.” Includes
ization and globalization…. The needs of

3
John W. M. Krummel, 2019. staunch defense of the significance of pub- Legacy: Impacts on The Geo-
Place and Horizon. In Peter D. lic space in sustaining urban places. In- graphical Review, Disci-
cludes a final chapter on “How to Study
Hershock and Roger T. Ames, Public Space,” illustrating a study of New plines, Scholarship, and
eds., Philosophies of Place: York City’s Tompkins Square Park. Teaching. The Geographical
An Intercultural Conversa- Review, spring on-line issue;
tion, pp. 65-87. Honolulu: Uni- Scott Peeples, 2020. The Man https://doi.org/10.1080/00167
versity of Hawai‘i Press. of the Crowd: Edgar Allan 428.2023.2191267.
Poe and the City. Princeton,
Drawing on a range of thinkers including NJ: Princeton Univ. Press. This set of retrospective essays commem-
Otto Bollnow and Martin Heidegger, this orates humanistic geographer Yi-Fu Tuan
philosopher aims to examine a “phenome- American writer and poet Edgar Allan (1930–2022) via a “diverse group of schol-
nological understanding of place in rela- Poe (1809–1849) regularly changed resi- ars in geography, science education, and
tion to horizon and alterity.” He writes: dences, seeking work in American maga- environmental psychology, who address
“While [a horizon] unfolds space for us, zines and living in the cities that produced Tuan’s influence on their professional and
we can never step beyond it to its other them. This Professor of English describes personal lives, research, and teaching. Re-
side. Yet the horizon necessarily belongs to “Poe’s rootless life in the cities, neighbor- occurring themes across all the individual
the world. Without the horizon, nothing hoods, and rooms where he lived and essays include place, home, and human ex-
will cohere. But it is not a thing in the worked, exploring how each new place left perience. In addition, each author stresses
world. On the one hand, it opens the place its enduring mark on the writer and his the broader implications of Tuan’s schol-
of spatial unfolding for us and, on the other craft.” Peeples concludes that Poe was “a arship on peace, love, caring, and belong-
hand, it bounds it” (p. 65). man whose outlook and career were ing.”
shaped by the cities where he lived, long-
Drew Leder, 2023. The Heal- ing for a stable home.” David Seamon, 2023. Phe-
ing Body: Creative Re- nomenological Perspectives
sponses to Illness, Aging, Jenny Roe and Lyla McCay, on Place, Lifeworlds, and
and Affliction. Evanston, Illi- 2021. Restorative Cities: Ur- Lived Emplacement: The Se-
nois: Northwestern Univ. ban Design for Mental Health lected Writings of David Sea-
Press. and Wellbeing. London: mon. London: Routledge.
Bloomsbury.
This philosopher and medical doctor re- This collection of 17 previously published
views current research on the phenome- These psychologists develop what they articles and chapters discusses such topics
nology of the body, of pain and suffering, call a “restorative urbanism” that considers as body-subject, the lived body, place bal-
of disability, and of aging. He draws on how urban design and planning contribute lets, environmental serendipity, home-
insights from continental philosophy as to mental health, wellness, and the quality worlds, and the pedagogy of place and
well as from Hinduism, Buddhism, and of everyday life. They illustrate how “cer- placemaking. The volume begins with an
Taoism. The book is said to be a tain places foster recovery from mental fa- introductory chapter, “Going Places,” that
“uniquely creative and refreshingly inno- tigue, depression, stress, and anxiety.” overviews Seamon’s academic trajectory
vative contribution to contemporary phi- Chapters in the book explicate various and summarizes the book’s three-part out-
losophy, demonstrating the importance of dimensions of restorative cities identified line of “the value of phenomenology for
the philosophical method to the wider by seven themes: inclusive, green (pres- studying place” (four chapters); “under-
culture.” ence of nature), blue (i.e., incorporating standing place phenomenologically” (five
water settings), sensory, neighborly, active chapters); and “places, lived emplacement,
Setha Low, 2023. Why Public (promoting agent-centered mobility), and and place presence” (eight chapters).
Space Matters. New York: Ox- playable (offering opportunities for crea-
ford Univ. Press. tive activities, including play). The authors Ingrid Leman Stefanovic, ed.,
provide conceptual drawings at neighbor- 2023. Conversations on Ethi-
This anthropologist considers why urban hood and city scales for each of these seven
themes as well as summary images. cal Leadership: Lessons
public spaces are crucial to city life and
provides a comprehensive review of pub- Learned from University Gov-
lic-space research, focusing on specific M. Beth Schlemper, Karen D. ernance. Toronto: Univ. of
real-world examples ranging from New Adams, Maria Lewicka, and Toronto Press.
York City to Paris and Buenos Aires. A others, 2023. Yi-Fu Tuan’s

4
 Reality necessarily transcends
Highlighting ethical leadership strate- be understood in solely causal terms”
gies, contributors to this volume examine (Janz 2005, 89).
features of effective decision-making at all Normality is not used here as a mere
Consequently, as noted by eminent descriptive category, nor does it refer
levels of an organization. Chapters address place theorist Jeff Malpas, “in many
challenges faced by universities and apply to an objectively measured average.
of the most basic respects, our de- Rather, it refers to modes of experience
those lessons to the broader community of pendence on place is something that
the public and private sectors. The volume in which the world and others ... appear
always remains implicit or else can as self-evident, familiar, and expected.
includes entries by architect Thomas Bar- only be explicated with great diffi-
rie and philosophers Stefanovic, Robert It thus seems that with the loss of nor-
culty” (1999, 177). mality and the uncertainty accompany-
Mugerauer, and Tricia Glazebrook. The Certainly, as we seek to better clar-
sidebar, below, highlights an excerpt from ing this loss, the self-evidence of real-
ify and facilitate a productive and ity itself is put under scrutiny. Old hab-
Stefanovic’s “Concluding Remarks: meaningful sense of place within our
Building a University’s Sense of Place.” its and beliefs are no longer self-evi-
universities, it becomes evident that dent, but new ones have yet to be es-
there is no silver bullet here: “place” tablished. In this in-between state not
is as diverse a notion as the innumera-
An institution’s sense of place
only what should be, but also what ac-
ble local places that define it. That tually is (or was) turns into a subject
As a philosopher by training, I believe said, the place literature is volumi- for negotiation or struggle (p. 152).
that one of the great moments of mod- nous, and part I [of this volume] sets
ern thought occurs with the realization the stage by discussing what we mean ... in the long run, the real world will
that human beings are not, as Des- when we refer to a sense of place that strike back, as it represents the horizon
cartes surmised, simply isolated sub- is both virtuous and meaningful. Part but also the ultimate material and
jects or solipsistic, thinking things, II then extends that conversation to physical limit to all experience and be-
situated in a world of discrete material show how important values need to be liefs. Struggles against reality are not,
objects. On the contrary, our interpre- preserved if university leaders are to in the end, sustainable. The external
tation of the world is always fluid: in identify and productively shape a uni- world or reality necessarily transcends
as much as we exist, we exist some- versity’s identity and a positive, hope- each individual or group's perspective
where, in relation to others, primordi- ful, empathetic sense of place (from of it. The world or reality is thus not a
ally situated within the context of the manuscript copy). fixed thing that can be defined a priori,
some place geographically, culturally, but an open experiential horizon.
temporally, politically, and indeed, Maren Wehrle, 2923. Can the A plurality of perspectives is in this
ontologically….
Simply put, it is impossible to exist “Real World" Please Stand sense necessary to guard the truth: to
up? The Struggle for Normal- prove the evidence of our appearances,
in the absence of place. That acknowl- we need constant processes of confir-
edgement is more than just a trivial ity as a Claim to Reality. Phi- mation. We can only “trust” our expe-
theoretical statement. Instead, it re- losophy and Social Criticism. rience with the help of others. There-
flects the cardinal reality of our his- Vol. 49 (2), pp. 151-163. fore, for the “real world” to stand up,
torically lived, embodied experience we need perspectives that confirm,
of the world and, I suggest, can signif- This philosopher offers a phenomenology complement, and question our subjec-
icantly inform our understanding of of normality, asking the central question of tive take on the world (pp. 160–61).
what universities should be today and how “the experience of something as nor-
in the future. mal gives us a hint as to whether something
University leaders would be wise to really is (and not only for our own experi-
acknowledge that an institution’s ence but for everyone's)?” She explores
sense of place is difficult to articulate this question “by applying a phenomeno-
because it is often obscure and onei- logical approach to lived normality,” draw-
ric, nowhere but everywhere, compel- ing on Husserl and Merleau-Ponty. See the
ling yet unspoken. The concept of sidebar, right.
place has been said to “resist theoreti-
cal reductionism,” acknowledging the
reality that, often, “the world cannot

5
Book note
Miguel Guitart, 2022. Behind Architectural Filters: Phenomena of Interference.
London: Routledge.
buildings, including Norwegian architec- architectural milieu and the existing
tural theorist Thomas Thiis-Evensen’s Ar- natural surroundings is the departure
chetypes in Architecture (1987) and phi- point in the design of architectural fil-
losopher Karsten Harries’ The Ethical ters....
Function of Architecture.
Guitart illustrates his argument via a se- Contemporary architecture explores
ries of over 200 black-and-white photo- the exchanges of energy that charac-
graphs, most taken by the author. Chapter terize a filtering boundary. Phenome-
3 is available as open source at the book’s nological space emerges when the
webpage at www.routledge.com. Follow- physically constructed and the emo-
ing, we excerpt a portion of Guitart's con- tionally perceived do not coincide.
cluding chapter. The resulting architecture reaches be-
yond its own physical from and be-
An interpenetration comes a phenomenon. Architectural
filters overcome architecture's physi-
[A]rchitectural filters are spatial and
cal attributes and expand its capacity
temporal mechanisms mediating the
to generate sensory perceptions. The
relationship between the individual
design of atmospheres in contempo-
and the environment .... Filters relate
rary architecture incorporates the op-
to the essence of [human]kind through
portunity to create spaces that rein-
their capacity to go beyond the archi-
force sensory experience. When shift-
tectural container and create essential
ing the perceptual focus from the ma-
meaning. They have the capacity to
terial to the phenomenological, the re-

T
his architect uses the concept of incorporate time-proven traditional
sulting space embodies a series of
“architectural filter” to examine solutions, with opportunities for for-
sensations linked to ambient effects.
the experiential linkages be- mal, organizational, and material in-
tween buildings’ “withins” and novation that have implications for
The conclusions extracted from the
“withouts.” The focus is the degree of per- both the present and the future...
present text aspire to resonate with
meability that walls (and to a lesser degree, In the evolution of the manipulation
searches for universal and timeless
roofs and ceilings) facilitate between inte- of the limit, architectural filters first
qualities. The goal of this reflection
rior and exterior. emerged as solutions for purely func-
aims to establish a set of positions
Guitart writes that “Architectural filters tional needs. Only later did they be-
leading to complementary pathways.
have always existed. They embody a time- come sophisticated mechanisms
The text targets the essence of archi-
less strategy in the conception of space that whose relational attributes came to
tecture through phenomenological
has consolidated its presence over time and address the interpenetration of light
discussion. Today, like yesterday, and
across different qualities. The utilitarian and vision between spaces. [The goal
very much like tomorrow, we con-
and poetic qualities of these architectural was] to mediate between two sides,
tinue to need to provide solutions to
mechanism have evolved through the fil- typically an exterior medium that can
spatial questions and problematics
ters’ adaptability and capacity to combine be categorized as natural, and an inte-
with very similar if not identical roots
structure, function, and beauty” (p. 6). rior medium that can be considered
(p. 265, 267, 269).
Guitart’s book is a valuable complement artificial, insofar as it is the conse-
to other phenomenological studies of quence of human artifice or interven-
tion. The connection between the new

6
Jizz: Science or Poetry?
Stephen Wood
Wood is an independent researcher in phenomenology and the environment. He has a PhD in systematic zoology from the Univer-
sity of Cambridge and has held fellowships in the Theoretical Physics Research Unit at London’s Birkbeck College; and at the
Nature Institute in Ghent, New York. The first and second parts of this essay were published in the 2022 and 2023 winter/spring
issues of EAP. [email protected].© 2023 Stephen Wood. Captions for photographs, p. 12.

I
n this essay, I continue my examina-
tion of plant and animal encounters in
place. In a previous essay, I described
a spectrum of encounters with birds
ranging from obliviousness to heightened
contact (Wood 2023). I explained how, in
the most intensely heightened encounters,
I captured the bird’s jizz, that unique qual-
ity of a living being that allows an identifi-
cation in a flash of insight.
Here, I explore the theme of jizz in more
detail. What does jizz offer the science of
ornithology? Is jizz identification reliable?
Is jizz with its poetic images and flashes of
insight unsuited to an analytical, rational
approach to ornithology?

Introducing jizz Among modern commentators, sociolo- and Vernon 1975). There was a question of
In his Bird Haunts and Nature Memories, gist of science Rebecca Ellis finds Cow- shooting rooks to halt agricultural damage.
ornithologist T. A. Coward introduced the ard’s account of jizz “uncritically roman- Fisher’s study showed that, although rooks
term jizz with the following romantic fable: tic,” and holds that it disguises “the more were responsible for some damage to
mundane, practical and prosaic dimen- crops, the impact was small so there was
A West Coast Irishman was familiar with sions” of identification (Ellis 2011, p. 777). no need to curb the population.
the wild creatures which dwelt on or vis- Historian of science Helen MacDonald The question I ask here is this: Is Cow-
ited his rocks and shores; at a glance, he also highlights Coward’s romanticism: ard’s jizz simply a vestige of Victorian ro-
could name them, usually correctly, but if “Not only was [jizz] superior to the ana- manticism, ready to be swept aside by the
asked how he knew them, would reply, “By lytic ‘eyes of the systematist’ but it was a new ornithology? Or does it reveal a di-
their ‘jizz’” (Coward 1922, p. 141). folk-knowledge, springing from ‘the fertile mension of our experience of nature not
Celtic brain’ of the west coast Irishman, a captured by the dots on maps of modern or-
For Coward, jizz was “something which word perhaps ‘never before written ... nithological surveys?
instantly registers identity on the brain … handed down from father to son for many
without pause for mental analysis” (Cow- generations’ [Coward 1922, p. 141]” Phalaropes as an example
ard 1922, p. 142). Identification by jizz in- (MacDonald 2002, p. 71). Phalaropes are a kind of small wading bird.
volved an intuitive grasp of the wholeness The new ornithology that emerged in the Males and females differ in size and breed-
of the living creature and transcended log- 1920s and 1930s worked to be analytical ing plumage, though unusually for birds,
ical analysis. It was not confined to birds: and rational. The aim was to support deci- the phalarope female is larger than the
sion-making with quantitative data gath- male and has brighter colors with flashes
How do we recognise the bank vole, seen ered on bird populations at a national scale. of red on the neck, wings, or underparts,
for a second in the lane, the long lean rat In 1928, Max Nicholson organized the first depending on the species. Usual sex roles
which appears and vanishes like a grey nationwide census of a bird species in the are also reversed, and the female courts the
streak, the pipistrelle flitting in the dusk UK, asking amateur birdwatchers to record male while the male broods the eggs and
round the barn? How do we know the the presence of heron nests across the rears the hatchlings.
daisy in the field, the sturdy oak? Is it by country (Nicholson 1928; see Guida 2019). Ornithologist H. J. Massingham was an
colour, size, length of tail, or shape of James Fisher led a similar survey of rook admirer of T. A. Coward and particularly
wing, by petal, form of leaf, or fruit? No; nests during the Second World War to an- sensitive to the individual character of
the small mammal and the plant alike alyze whether rooks raided food crops to birds. Here is his description of phalaropes
have their jizz (Coward 1922, p. 143). feed their young (Fisher 1947; see Sage

7
 land, revealing the channel to the next
pond (Krafel 2011, entry for June 28).

As a field naturalist, Krafel is drawn to

the overall gesture, or jizz, of the phala-
ropes, rather than any specifics of their
anatomy. His account reminds me of the
same tight, whooshing turn I saw executed
by a group of birds at California’s Syca-
more Cove. At the time, I could not iden-
tify them, but they left a strong impression.
Reading Krafel’s account, I realize now
that these birds were phalaropes. A vivid
image like Krafel’s evokes the jizz of a
species and make it identifiable to an oth-
erwise uninitiated observer. The phalarope
jizz was held in my memory, later acti-
vated and clarified by Krafel’s word-pic-
ture.
Massingham acknowledges that phala-
ropes are scientifically distinguished by
the coot-like lobing of the toe joints (their
in his Birds of the Seashore (Massingham Nature writer William Beach Thomas scientific name, Phalaropus, means “coot-
1931): reviewed Massingham’s book and praised foot”) but insists that “they are such highly
his knack of “... imparting precise infor- individual little birds in habit, appearance
Pre-eminently water-birds, they swim as mation with gusto and distinction” and colouring that a Phalarope is a Phala-
lightly as a dry, crinkled leaf, and always (Thomas 1931, p. 434). He found that “The rope and nothing but a Phalarope”
as though driven by contrary and capri- pleasure of watching a particular individ- (Massingham 1931, p. 89).
cious breezes, snapping sideways at ual bird or birds in definite places informs Massingham underlines the phalarope’s
gnats, flies, water-boatmen and other almost every sentence, every section …” distinctive “manner of living,” but Helen
small surface fry, as their little caravels Thomas appreciated Massingham’s cap- MacDonald disapproves. She writes that
tack from side to side (p. 89). turing and conveying the encounter with “Such pronouncements are of little practi-
the living bird in its natural habitat. cal value for the novice birdwatcher.” She
… once in the air, the birds are as incon- Thomas admired how the vividness of dismisses Massingham’s species descrip-
stant as Wagtails, frisking round at right Massingham’s account sprang from the in- tions as “grandly Romantic” (MacDonald
angles or turning on their tracks just as tensity and authenticity of that encounter. 2002, p. 71).
you expect them to go straight ahead on Naturalist Paul Krafel recalls seeing Compare Massingham’s colorful evoca-
their own momentum (p. 89). phalaropes while kayaking in Oregon’s tion of the phalaropes with the following
Warner Wetlands. He identifies the gesture “objective” descriptions from the website
Sometimes in order to stir an eddy for the of the Royal Society for the Protection of
gnats and flies to swing into, they dart that impressed Massingham—“turning on
round and round on the water as though their tracks just as you ex-
fixed at the end of a spike revolving from pect them to go straight
a hub (p. 90). ahead”:

This vivid account of phalaropes exem- As I keep moving up-

plifies Massingham’s aim “to give as per- stream, the ponds and
sonal a description of each bird as possible, channels grow wider ...
so that the curious may recognise it by its Many have small flocks of
individual manner of living as well as by phalaropes. The phala-
its form and plumage” (Massingham 1931, ropes fly in tight groups
p. 16). That phalaropes swim “as lightly as that all bank at the same
a dry, crinkled leaf” is particularly evoca- time creating a collective
tive as is his description of how they swim whoosh. Sometimes they
in tight circles to draw aquatic inverte- all drop into the water
brates to the surface. Massingham’s with a startling, compact
phrase, “Individual manner of living” is an suddenness while other
accurate expression of Coward’s jizz. times they turn and disap-
pear behind some point of

8
Birds (RSPB) (Red Necked Phalarope Bird closely at mosses on tree branches, care- p. 26). The observer perceives the living
Facts - The RSPB): fully separating the small fronds with a dis- creature all at once in its context of ecolog-
secting needle. The two women walked on, ical relationships.
Adult female, summer plumage and suddenly Angela stopped, six feet from I draw on a situation from my own expe-
Feather colour: Black Brown Grey Or- a branch. She immediately identified the rience to emphasize that the sequential and
ange Red White Yellow moss species by its jizz: “She knew what simultaneous modes can complement ra-
Leg colour: Black the organism was in a flash and from a dis- ther than contradict each other. While
Beak: Black Long Thin tance” (Ellis 2011, p. 775). Angela did not walking, I saw a tiny bird in a bush. I im-
Natural habitats: Marine and intertidal elaborate on which subtle clues of lighting, mediately thought “wren” but spotted a
Wetland shape, color, or context informed her intu- gold streak over its eye. Looking among
ition: “She presented it as an inexpressible the very small birds in Richard Fitter’s
Both adult sexes, winter plumage sense of the organism’s essence, embedded guide, I recognized a bird with a wren-like
Feather colour: Black Brown Cream/buff in and expressed through [a web] of eco- silhouette (Fitter 1966, p. 32, pl. 1). The
Grey White Yellow logical relationships” (Ellis 2011, p. 775). gold streak was a portion of a gold crown,
Leg colour: Black In contrast to Angela’s way of study, an- an identifying feature of firecrests or king-
Beak: Black Long Thin other botanist interviewed by Ellis, Chris lets. This gold streak was a decisive identi-
Natural habitats: Marine and intertidal Preston, urged caution regarding jizz iden- fying feature. If challenged, I would high-
Wetland tification (Ellis 2011, pp. 776–77): light this feature to justify my identifica-
tion.
Rather than indicating how the bird- The trouble with jizz is that there is no ne- I emphasize, however, that my first im-
watcher is likely to encounter a phalarope gotiation, and I’m therefore suspicious. It pression of “wren” provided vital clues as
in the wild, the RSPB authors break the is not helpful to say it just looks like it—it to size and shape, important features di-
bird into a dry list of separate indicators. is just an assertion—that I recognize this, recting me to the correct section of Fitter’s
According to MacDonald, the novice and this is it. guide. The two modes of observation—the
“should learn to identify [a bird] by the sequential, based on “hard characters,” and
painstaking methods of notes and text- My favourite group, Potamogetons [pond- the simultaneous, based on jizz—here re-
books before [naming] it on the wing” weeds], is one where jizz as opposed to inforced each other.
(MacDonald (2002, p. 73, citing Robert- technical characters is of limited value.
son, 1950, p. 193). In her view, a textbook
I do allow myself to use jizz, but through Identification keys
list of characters is more useful to the nov-
One tool to establish “hard characters” is
ice birdwatcher than Massingham’s poetic correlation with hard characters. I then
eventually realize that I don’t need hard the identification key that Preston provides
description.
in his handbook to pondweeds (Preston
According to the RSPB’s website, the characters, but if challenged, I will, for ex-
1995). Fellow botanist John Poland has
phalaropes’ lobed toes “enable them to ample, return to the small curly hairs on
the underside of a leaf. prepared a freely-available pondweed
swim strongly when on pools or out at
identification key for the UK Freshwater
sea.” We can see how this description
would logically follow from the scientific Preston’s choice of words in his first Habitats Trust (Poland 2019). Table 1
definition of the phalaropes as “coot-toed.” comment is interesting: “No negotiation … (next page) summarizes the section for
But “strong swimmer” conveys a different not helpful … just an assertion…” He as- pondweeds with leaves greater in width
sociates jizz identification with the private than 6 millimeters.
impression from the bird’s bobbing about
judgement of the observer—a personal In this table, indentation follows a se-
on the surface of the sea “like a crinkled
claim without communicable justification. quence of steps in the identification pro-
leaf.” We expect the bird to vigorously
Later, Ellis mentions that Preston describes cess, whereby the observer selects the
plough its way through the waves.
an expert whose reliance on jizz to identify characterization that best fits the pond-
I suggest that the RSPB’s aim is to con-
a species of saxifrage during a training weed plant in question. Each characteriza-
vey intellectual knowledge, which is not
course was successfully challenged by a tion requires an analysis of the plant into
necessarily useful for the novice who, ven-
turing into the field, may find descriptions novice participant: “a return to the field parts. Each leaf is dissected into base,
of jizz more helpful in that they better cap- and an organism’s individual features sub- stalk, margin, midrib and so on. Following
ture the novice’s encounter with the bird. sequently overturned the expert’s identifi- this sequence, the observer ends with an
cation” (Ellis 2011, p. 777). identification of the plant species.
Preston is uncomfortable with jizz iden- On one hand, this observation method
The trouble with jizz may seem different from jizz identifica-
In her study of plant naturalist communi- tification because it purports to provide
ties in the UK, Rebecca Ellis considered “knowledge without recourse to inference” tion, where the organism is grasped in its
(Ornstein 1983, p. 24). He prefers empiri- totality in a moment. On the other hand, the
the nature of jizz (Ellis 2011). She accom-
panied Angela, a specialist of mosses, on cal features—his “hard characters”—that, two approaches may be closer than they
through a clear sequence of inferential first appear. To apply the key to the partic-
one of her field outings. Magnifying lens ular pondweed, one must have a “feel” for
in hand, Angela bent forward to look steps, bring him to an identification. With
jizz, there is an intuition of the whole that what the different terms mean—“crispy
comes simultaneously (cf. Ornstein 1983, when dry,” “minutely toothed,” “shortly

9
 example, historical geogra-
pher Mark Toogood frames
the emergence of modern, sci-
entific ornithology as a shift
away from so-called “aes-
thetic birdwatching” (Too-
good 2011, p. 350):

In the 1920s and 1930s, ama-

teur naturalism moved away
from the “aesthetic” ap-
proach found in museum dis-
play and private collection …
towards work on living ani-
mals, their behaviour and
ecology …. The few profes-
sional naturalists that there
were at the start of the 1920s
became increasingly con-
cerned with survey and with
uniform and standardised
stalked,” and so forth. At the same time, Most of us have been educated and have procedures of observation … This was not
being able to successfully apply the se- developed sequential abilities … at the ex- straightforwardly a breaking away from
quence gives the observer a “feel” for the pense of the fluid and simultaneous … We previous practice but rather a building
different species, which begin to stand out, do not educate intuition since it seems to upon a “critical spirit” to approach the
one from another. Gradually, the observer lack a basis, and it is often confused with study of nature in an apparently serious
gains a sense of the jizz of the different the negative connotation of the “irra- way, unburdened by what self-styled
species. In this sense, the analytic and ho- tional”—or with sloppy thinking … “modern” naturalists saw as the igno-
listic modes of observation are comple- (Ornstein 1983, pp. 30–31). rance and selfish concerns of latter-day
mentary, working together to provide a Edwardian naturalists for specimens, lists
more multivalent knowledge of the natural In short, the analytic mode is the sequen- and numbers of records for personal use.
world. tial expression of the verbal-intellectual
Drawing on the work of psychologist mind, whereas the holistic mode is the ex- Toogood’s word choice is revealing. The
Robert Ornstein (1977, 1983), philosopher pression of the intuitive mind, grounded in aesthetic approach is based on “ignorance
Henri Bortoft argues that the analytical and “a simultaneous perception of the whole” and selfish concerns” and is limited to dead
holistic approaches represent different (Bortoft 1996, p. 63). specimens kept for the private use of the
modes of human consciousness and two collector. In contrast, the scientific ap-
contrasting ways of being in the world Science or poetry? proach is “serious,” founded on a “critical
(Bortoft 1996, p. 61). Bortoft explains how As illustrated by the above examples, a list spirit” that assumes “uniform and stand-
the analytic mode springs from our experi- of an organism’s properties can be framed ardized procedures of observation” and
ence of seeing and handling solid bodies. simply in terms of the size, shape, and provides data on living animals for public
To build a wall, for example, we assemble color of various body parts. In contrast, jizz use. In Toogood’s account, the scientific
bricks one by one in piecemeal fashion. In pays heed to the activity of the organism, approach is clearly destined to triumph
contrast, the holistic mode arises from our its characteristic associations, and its man- over the aesthetic and to usher in a modern
appreciation of living beings, where the ner of comportment. This way of seeing re- era of evidence-based observation.
whole is greater than the sum of the parts. quires evocative language that highlights For Helen MacDonald, the interwar pe-
In the analytic mode, language and logic the feel of the activity for the observer, riod saw a “battlefield of identification”
are preeminent tools of human conscious- who is not placed before a static museum fought between aesthetic and scientific
ness. In terms of practical value, the se- exhibit but before a living being going birdwatchers. She frames the aesthetic ap-
quential, linear structure of this mode of about its everyday business. A description proach as “merely seeing,” an “uncon-
being would seem to give it greater legiti- that evokes this living being is best poetic scious, organic vision” expressing “an or-
macy. Because Western education empha- in the sense that words encourage an intui- ganic connection with nature”’ (MacDon-
sizes this logical, sequential mode, the in- tion of the whole. ald 2002, p. 63, 73). The scientific ap-
tuitive, integrative mode is often not even As we have seen, some commentators proach, in contrast, establishes the modern
recognized as a valid way of knowing: view such descriptions with suspicion, observer, who possesses “a discriminating
claiming to detect inappropriate aesthetic … gaze … built upon scientific discourse,
considerations or romantic sentiment. For with the end result a learned, intellectual
familiarity, a legitimate knowledge” (Mac-
Donald 2002, p. 73).

10
 Interestingly, when we examine the or- 2002, p. 54). This caricature of Nicholson be the atomism of the RSPB’s official web-
nithological writings of Max Nicholson has become the truth for MacDonald: the site. But his own contribution to bird iden-
and James Fisher, we find a more balanced poet wandering aimlessly through nature, tification, Birds by Character: The
view than we would be led to expect by looking with a glazed eye of rapture in the Fieldguide to Jizz Identification (1990),
modern commentators like Toogood and hope of revelation. This person would in- has surprisingly holistic entries for phala-
MacDonald. For these early architects of deed be a selfish and ignorant artist, whose ropes. For example (p. 84):
the new ornithology, “aesthetic bird- art would reflect only themselves.
watchers such as W. H. Hudson … collect Philosopher and novelist Iris Murdoch Red-necked Phalarope
memories” that owe their value to a “trans- points out that an “ability to forget self, to Neat, light-weight, with very fine bill, tiny
cendent impression of beauty” (Nicholson be realistic, to perceive justly” is the crux head. Slighter than Grey. Swims buoy-
1931, p. 59). They like the shape of birds, of good art (Murdoch 2014, p. 90). A poet antly, erratically over water. Flight light,
“their colours, their songs, the places or painter attracted by the beauty of the airy, erratic. Usually alone.
where they live … Many of them paint birds at a particular spot is challenged to
birds or write prose or poetry about them” respond with “unsentimental, detached, Grey Phalarope
(Fisher 1940, pp. 13–14). unselfish, objective attention” (Murdoch Dumpy, with short, thickish bill, square
2014, p. 66, also pp. 90–91). The calling of head, stout body and short legs. Swims
To these positive depictions of the aes-
buoyantly, foreparts high and tail low, of-
thetic approach, Nicholson and Fisher the artist is to be a selfless witness to the
ten turning sharply, even spinning while
added warnings of the limitations of a dry truth, to show “how real things can be
pecking at the surface. Flight low, confi-
scientific approach. Fisher described re- looked at and loved without being seized
dent; wings rather long and broad. Singly
searchers who, “like several of the school- and used, without being appropriated into
or in small, compact parties
masters, are grimly scientific” about birds, the greedy organism of the self” (Murdoch
and “talk for hours on the territory theory, 2014, p. 66). Portions of Massingham’s account,
the classification of the swallows, or In ancient Greek, the meaning of aes- highlighted earlier (such as the way phala-
changes in the bird population of British thetic was “of the senses.” In the mode of ropes swim like a dry, crinkled leaf) corre-
woodland during historical times” (Fisher detached, objective perception that Mur- spond to Hume’s description of the Red-
1940, p. 14). doch emphasizes, the observer pays atten- necked Phalarope, which he says “swims
Nicholson urged birdwatchers to boldly tion to the evidence of the senses, no longer buoyantly, erratically.” Other descriptive
adopt the new tools of scientific birdwatch- perceiving what he or she expects to per- portions correspond to Hume’s Grey Phal-
ing but to respect the “vital tradition of the ceive. In this manner of heightened aware- arope—for example, the spinning move-
older school” and to keep birdwatching ness, the observer becomes open to a sim- ment on the water and the flying in small
“free from the jargon and pretence too lia- ultaneous perception of the whole, and of compact parties.
ble to accompany a more developed tech- the form, order, and beauty that the whole Even if we fault one or the other of these
nique” (Nicholson, 1931, pp. 17-18). imparts. This sensuous-intuitive mind aims accounts for its accuracy, both descriptions
For Nicholson and Fisher, there was no to perceive beings in their living wholeness evoke a vivid, alive quality. Both prepare
battlefield of identification. Rather, accu- and challenges the schematic, piecemeal the reader to encounter phalaropes in the
rate identification was vital to the outdoor observation of the verbal-intellectual mind field, to value and to savor their singular
naturalist’s enjoyment, whether he or she (Bortoft 2012, p. 53). character. Both descriptions incite the
was of a scientific or aesthetic persuasion Toogood and MacDonald’s criticisms reader’s curiosity and desire to see.
(Fisher 1940 p. 47, 49; Nicholson 1931, p. show a lack of interest for the value of the In their different manners of knowing,
59). sensuous-intuitive mode of understanding, jizz and “hard characters” illustrate the
Toogood and MacDonald see the aes- recognizing only the fruits of the verbal-in- contrasting sensuous-intuitive and verbal-
thetic approach to birdwatching in nega- tellectual approach. As Ornstein explained, intellectual approaches to nature. Whether
tive terms not found in Nicholson and “‘Hemianopia’ is a blindness to half the realized as an immediate whole or part by
Fisher: “not serious”; “unconscious”; visual world, due to lesions in one half of part, the bird comes to presence for the
“mere seeing”; based on “ignorance” and the brain … Our contemporary education birdwatcher as the particular bird it is. Jizz
“selfish concerns.” Much has been made of yields a similar disorder: we may have de- identification acknowledges that the bird’s
Nicholson’s statement that “It is a frequent veloped one half of our ability to organize wholeness is primary, whereas a hard-
delusion that the bird-watcher is a man external reality to an unparalleled extent character analysis sees the bird, via piece-
who rambles about the country-side until yet remain ‘blind’ … to the other” meal features, as a re-presentation of the
chance puts something in his way, like the (Ornstein 1983, p. 31). bird’s wholeness—a verbal-intellectual re-
common idea of a poet looking for inspira- construction (Bortoft 2012, p. 60, after
tion” (Nicholson 1931, p. 47). Birds by character McGilchrist 2009, p. 179). Such represen-
Citing social historian David Allen’s As chairman of the RSPB’s Rarities Com- tations are reductive and anti-climactic as
“wayward sampler of nature” of the 1920s mittee, Rob Hume was responsible for as- compared to “the bird as a whole, as a liv-
(Allen 1994, p. 223), MacDonald envi- sessing claimed sightings of birds rarely ing, exciting, absorbing creature” (Hume
sions Nicholson’s aesthetic birdwatcher seen in Britain. One would be justified in 1990, p. 9).
rambling “about the country-side … like a assuming that he is an authority on bird The senses and intuition are the bird-
poet looking for inspiration” (MacDonald, identification and expect his approach to watcher’s tools. Rather than to be rejected

11
by the novice, they should be encouraged ▪ Jizz works best in tandem with conven- Nicholson, E.M. 1928. Report on the
and developed. In his introduction, Hume tional methods of identification, sup- “British Birds” Census of Heronries,
(1990, p. 9) recommends jizz identification porting and supported by those methods. 1928. London: Witherby.
to “young birdwatchers, indeed to anyone ▪ Jizz points to the complementarity of the Nicholson, E. M. 1931. The Art of Bird-
nervous of cluttering the mind.” He specif- sensuous-intuitive and the verbal-intel- Watching. London: Witherby.
ically rejects MacDonald’s prescription to lectual approaches to science and Ornstein, R. E. 1977. The Psychology of
avoid evocations of bird qualities. “Relax knowledge. Consciousness. NY: Harcourt Brace
your mind’s eye until it receives general Jovanovich.
character freely and easily,” Hume (1990, References Ornstein, R. E. 1983. The Mind Field. Lon-
p. 9) recommends. Do not separate the bird Allen, D. E. 1994. The Naturalist in Brit- don: Octagon Press.
into specific indicators too early, an action ain. 2nd edn. Princeton: Princeton Poland, J. 2019. A Vegetative Key to the
that too readily provokes “tension and anx- Univ. Press. Wetland Plants. Draft for UK Freshwa-
iety” (Hume 1990, p. 9). Allow the bird its Bortoft, H. 1996. The Wholeness of Na- ter Habitats Trust. https://freshwater-
full presence first, as clearly and distinctly ture. Edinburgh: Floris. habitats.org.uk/wp-content/up-
as possible, before noting visible field Bortoft, H. 2012. Taking Appearance Seri- loads/2019/09/Vegetative-Key-to-
marks. Yes, Hume urges the birdwatcher to ously. Edinburgh: Floris. Wetland-Plants-_-DRAFTSept19.pdf.
take notes in the field and to review them Coward, T. A. 1922. Bird Haunts and Na- Preston, C. D. 1995. Pondweeds of Great
later (Hume 1990, p. 11). For Hume, the ture Memories. London: Warne. Britain and Ireland (BSBS Handbook
sensuous-intuitive and the verbal-intellec- Ellis, R. 2011. Jizz and the joy of pattern No. 8). London: Botanical Society of
tual modes of birdwatching are fully com- recognition. Social Studies of Science the British Isles.
patible and complementary. 41 (6): 769–90. Robertson, A. W. P. 1950. Birds, Wild and
If one hopes to encounter birds from a Fisher, J. 1940. Watching Birds. Har- Free. London: Bodley Head.
typical identification guide (where birds mondsworth: Penguin. Sage, B. L. and J. D. R. Vernon. 1978. The
are presented in systematic order begin- Fisher, J. 1947 (unpublished ms.). A Sum- 1975 National Survey of Rookeries.
ning with loons and grebes and ending with mary of the Results of the Rook Investi- Bird Study 25 (2): 64–86.
songbirds), he or she will mostly be disap- gation. Edward Grey Institute of Field Thomas. W. B. 1931. A real bird book. Sat-
pointed. Though these guides list descrip- Ornithology Report R4. urday Review of Politics, Literature,
tive features of a particular bird, they give Fitter, R. S. R. 1966. Collins Pocket Guide Science and Art 152 (3962): 434.
little indication of how to encounter that to British Birds. London: Collins. Toogood, M. 2011. Modern observations:
bird. If one starts with its re-presentation Guida, M. 2019. 1928—Popular bird- new ornithology and the science of our-
via a list of separate indicators, one has al- watching becomes scientific: The first selves, 1920–1940. Journal of Histori-
ready missed an encounter with the bird. national bird census in Britain. Public cal Geography 37 (3): 348–57.
Precise identification comes with a more Understanding of Science 28 (5): 622– Wood, S. 2023. The changing qualities of
precise encounter—a moment of aware- 27. nature encounters: Taking a walk
ness in which holistic and analytic under- Hume, R. 1990. Birds by Character. Lon- around the lake at lunchtime—2. Envi-
standing work together. don: Papermac. ronmental & Architectural Phenome-
Krafel, P. 2011. A phenomenal place. nology, 34 (1): 20–23.
Main takeaways Cairns of H.O.P.E. No. 66. http://kra-
I conclude by offering the following gen- fel.info/a-phenomenal-place-cairns- Image captions
eralizations about jizz: 66/. p. 7: Red-necked Phalarope, summer plum-
Macdonald, H. 2002. What makes you a age, male behind, female in front.
▪ Jizz points to the primacy of wholeness scientist is the way you look at things. Source: PanuRuangjan.
and is appropriate to the holistic mode of Studies in History and Philosophy of p. 8: Grey Phalarope (UK name) or Red
consciousness (but may seem arbitrary Science Part C: Studies in History and Phalarope (US name), winter plumage.
and irrelevant to the analytic mode). Philosophy of Biological and Biomedi- Source: MikeLane45.
▪ Jizz is an intuition that involves a simul- cal Sciences 33 (1): 53–77. p. 8: Grey Phalarope (UK name) or Red
taneous perception of the whole. Massingham, H. J. 1931. Birds of the Sea- Phalarope (US name), female, summer
▪ Jizz is difficult to describe in simple lan- shore. London: Laurie. plumage. Source: Alexander Hellquist.
guage and is best served by poetic im- McGilchrist, I. 2009. The Master and His
ages. Emissary. New Haven: Yale Univ.
▪ Jizz forms a trustworthy basis for identi- Press.
fication to the extent that it can be suc- Murdoch, I. 2014. The Sovereignty of
cessfully evoked by these poetic images. Good. London: Routledge.

12
Toward a Phenomenology of Climate Change
Edward Relph
Relph is Emeritus Professor at the University of Toronto and a key founder of research that has come to be identified as “phenom-
enologies of place.” His books include Place and Placelessness (1976; reprinted 2008); Rational Landscapes and Humanistic Ge-
ography (1981; reprinted 2016); and Toronto: Transformations in a City and its Region (2013). [email protected]. © 2023
Edward Relph.

I
n 2021, I directly experienced two ex- weather patterns in a location over a longer or live through ...” Climate change is not
treme weather events attributed, at period of time, usually 30 years or more.” an object nor exactly an event, though it is
least in part, to climate change. One Strictly speaking, climate change is a most obviously manifest through extreme
was the “heat dome” of late June, quantitatively-based scientific theory weather events. But it is certainly a situa-
when temperatures in my part of the Pa- about environmental processes caused by tion that in diverse ways has become an as-
cific Northwest rose above 40°C, and the human activity. It is often summarized in pect of everyday life everywhere. For ex-
temperature in the small town of Lytton in averages, most notably that the average ample:
British Columbia reached 49.6°C, which global temperature has increased by 1.2°C
exceeded the previous record for anywhere since pre-industrial times, which is actu- ▪ A continual stream of news depicts
in Canada by almost 5°C. The other event ally an average of averages from data rec- record-breaking floods, wildfires, and
involved two “atmospheric rivers”—long orded over many decades at thousands of droughts;
bands of very intense warm rainfall—that weather stations around the world. This is ▪ Seasonal temperatures edge upward,
tracked in from the Pacific Ocean over six just the sort of abstract knowledge that Ed- and weather patterns shift in unfamil-
days in November, broke the regional rain- mund Husserl aimed to redress when he iar ways;
fall record for the month by 13 centimeters, proposed phenomenology as “a return to ▪ Governments and businesses imple-
and caused devastating floods in British the things themselves.” ment policies and practices to miti-
Columbia’s Fraser Valley. Yet I and others who experienced some gate carbon emissions and move to-
As I tried to make sense of what had hap- combination of the debilitating heat, ward net zero;
pened, I began to wonder how phenome- drenching rain, wildfires and floods in ▪ Citizens organize protests that high-
nology could clarify experiences of cli- 2021 knew immediately that this situation light the inadequacy of climate poli-
mate change. was so far beyond both past experiences cies;
and reasonable future expectations that it ▪ Wind farms and solar panels mark
Below: The outdoor-indoor thermometer had to be a consequence of climate change. visible testaments of a shift away
at my house, June 2021. 43°C is 110°F; Climatologists, who are cautious about from fossil fuels;
36°C is 98°F. identifying causes (because there have al- ▪ Crops fail because of drought, com-
ways been instances of exceptional munities are destroyed by floods, and
weather), produced an official attribution people are forced to migrate;
study a few days later that merely con- ▪ Climate considerations enter daily
firmed what we already knew. life, affecting where people choose to
And when the Secretary General of the live, whether to drive or walk, how to
United Nations saw the devastating floods cool homes, what products to use,
that affected a third of Pakistan in 2022, he what foods to eat, and so forth.
needed no attribution study to immediately
declare it a “climate catastrophe”. Climate In short, what was initially a theory
change may be an abstract theory about a has evolved into a widespread sense of cli-
gradual and almost imperceptible increase mate change. This awareness, rather like a
in average temperatures but, in its manifes- sense of place, has become a companion of
tations, it is a real and immediate lifeworld everyday life, mostly in the background
phenomenon in which places are de- but coming forward whenever some envi-
ronmental disaster or international confer-
Experiencing climate change stroyed, trees catch fire, people suffer and
die, and the neat distinction between ence makes headlines, and especially, as in
It is not immediately clear that climate
weather and climate doesn't work. my case, when we experience local
change is a phenomenon that lends itself to
David Seamon (2000, pp. 158–59) weather that has no precedent. How can
a phenomenological approach. The very
phenomenology clarify this sense of cli-
idea of climate is an abstraction. According writes that a legitimate phenomenological
mate change?
to NOAA: “Weather is what you experi- topic is “Any object, event, situation or ex-
ence when you step outside on any given perience that a person can see, hear, touch,
day .... Climate is the average of the smell, taste, feel, intuit, know, understand,

13
A phenomenological perspective NASA (most notably James Hansen, who Nevertheless, after Kyoto, some govern-
I understand phenomenological method as subsequently made a presentation about it ments and businesses gradually began to
a flexible way to describe some aspect of to a U.S. Senate committee) published a implement practices to reduce greenhouse
the lifeworld as it is experienced, while set- paper in the journal Science on the “Cli- gas emissions. Some responses, such as
ting aside assumptions about why it is as it mate Impact of Increasing Carbon Diox- LED lighting, more efficient appliances,
is. My aim here, to borrow some of Sea- ide” (Hansen et al. 1981). This research solar panels and hybrid vehicles had some
mon's terms, is to explore aspects of how demonstrated that the global average tem- presence in everyday life, but most, such as
the phenomenon of climate change is perature had been rising since the begin- revised building codes and carbon capture
known, understood, and lived through. ning of the 20th century, which was con- in industry, were largely invisible.
Philosopher Don Ihde (2019) noted that, sistent with measurements that indicated This top-down process of scientific re-
in some phenomenological studies, there is an equivalent increase in atmospheric car- ports, international conferences, and incre-
an element of what he has referred to as a bon dioxide caused by the use of fossil mental measures to reduce carbon emis-
“first-person reduction,” which reveals in- fuels. sions, all somewhat detached from every-
dividual experiences but mostly avoids Depending on the rate of economic day life, continued for the first decade of
material and social contexts. He proposed growth, it was projected that global aver- the new century. But for two reasons,
a modified approach that he calls “post- age temperatures would rise between things began to change, at first in the back-
phenomenology,” to redress those omis- 2.5°C and 4.5°C by 2100, something “of ground and then increasingly in the fore-
sions. almost unprecedented magnitude” in both ground.
I see no need for this neologism, but geological and human history, not seen First, and most important, the theory of
Ihde’s suggestion is helpful here because it since the age of dinosaurs. The conse- climate change began to become a mani-
accommodates the material reality that quence would be intense droughts, shifts in fest reality. Every year since 1998 has been
most of our knowledge about climate productive agricultural regions, and rising one of the warmest on record, and weather
change is dependent on scientific reports, sea levels. records around the world have been repeat-
online sources, television news, and social In 1988, climate scientists persuaded the edly broken. And as extreme weather
media. World Meteorological Association, an af- events intensified and destroyed places,
Except for the relatively small minority filiate with the United Nations, to create scientific models have, since about 2012,
who have encountered extreme weather the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate been able to confirm that their probable
events firsthand (and to a large extent even Change (IPCC) to summarize all relevant cause is climate warming.
for them), an understanding of climate research on global warming, and the sub- Second, the translation of the science,
change is based on mostly received, inter- sequent report confirmed that human activ- warnings, and news about climate change
subjectively shared knowledge about how ities were indeed inadvertently the cause. into popular awareness has been facilitated
the climates and weather of the world are The UN reacted by organizing a Confer- by the coincidental global expansion of
shifting and what that shift bodes for the ence of the Parties (COPs) in 1995 to bring personal electronic communications. The
future. together representatives of the roughly190 worldwide web was invented in 1989, just
states under its aegis to discuss causes, as the First Assessment Report of the IPCC
Below: A display in Les Galleries Lafa- consequences, and possible mitigation. At was written. Search engines came a few
yette in Paris for a Zone of Low Carbon a subsequent meeting in Kyoto in 1997, years later, and there are now over six bil-
Shopping, June 2022. participating nations committed to reduc- lion users of smart phones worldwide.
tions in greenhouse gas emis- Electronic media do not easily convey
sions. the rational logic and complex arguments
In less than 20 years, climate of the written Accessibility Reports of the
change had morphed from an IPCC or the consequences of the inexora-
obscure research topic into ble, almost imperceptible rise in global av-
something requiring immediate erage temperature. These media favor sim-
international actions. There ple explanations, emotional responses, and
was some media coverage, but strong opinions. These reactions are pre-
climate change was still a con- cisely what images of extreme weather dis-
cern remote from everyday life, asters provide.
a matter for experts to consider. In short, electronic media turn the care-
While the evidence that the ful, qualified arguments of climatologists
global average temperature has into stories of personal suffering and sur-
increased by 1.2°C since the vival. Even though they also give voice to
beginning of the industrial rev- climate-change skeptics, their instantane-
olution may be hugely important from a ous world-wide reach has ensured that both
scientific perspective, from the perspective the global scale and the human, local con-
Climate change and lifeworld
of personal experience of local temperature sequences of global warming have become
Climate change as a consequence of hu-
changes, this shift is inconsequential. intersubjectively shared and a part of eve-
man activities was first recognized in 1981
ryday life almost everywhere.
when some atmospheric physicists at

14
Phenomenological possibilities worrying climate change is (Murphy and A similar concern seems not to be the
Phenomenological approaches have the Williams 2021). case for many business leaders and politi-
potential to clarify the diverse ways that Climatologists have the longest view. A cians who probably grew up before climate
climate change is experienced, whether as diagram in the Sixth Assessment Report change was discovered in the 1980s and
a looming concern about the future, or di- (2021, Cross Chapter Box PALEO 2 pp. 1– must find practical ways to respond to the
rectly through extreme weather and shifts 43) shows global temperatures from long-term concerns of climate scientists.
in the character of seasons as temperatures 70,000 before present to 2100, with the For these individuals, the costs of acting
slowly rise. caption: “Humankind is embarking on a now to deal with a problem whose really
For example, phenomenological studies trajectory beyond the global temperatures serious consequences are mostly in the fu-
can provide insights about the range of experienced since at least the advent of ag- ture must be balanced against immediate
ways climate change is viewed, from grief riculture.” competing claims such as pandemics, af-
provoked by possible consequences, to ag- This temporal span of millennia suggests fordable housing, and health care.
nosticism and denial that it is even happen- a future of unconceivable environmental A target date of 2050 for net-zero, green-
ing. Many tourists on cruise ships to catastrophes and a world unfit for humans. house-gas emissions seems reason-able to
Alaska enjoy the dramatic calving of glac- Climatologists usually bracket this climate allow for transition. But for small busi-
iers simply as a natural spectacle, but some threat in their research, but it can affect nesses and households with limited means,
look at it with a sense of doom as they wit- their personal lives. A survey of climate the temporal span is much shorter. Even
ness something before it disappears for- scientists, published in Nature, found that though climate change may be a reason for
ever (Kizzia 2022). global warming has caused many research- personal anxiety, expenditures on
Phenomenology can provide a way to ers to reconsider major life decisions, such measures to deal with it cannot compete
understand the experiences of those who as where to live and whether to have chil- with more immediate priorities. Looking
survive extreme weather, those who des- dren. This survey found that more than 60 ahead even five years is challenging (Mur-
pair and move away to somewhere safer, or percent of respondents experienced anxi- phy and Williams 2021).
those who choose to resist and to rebuild in ety, grief, or other distress because of per-
locations clearly threatened by increasing sonal and professional concerns (Tollefson A new Copernican revolution?
floods, hurricanes, or wildfires. For exam- 2021). French philosopher Bruno Latour (2021)
ple, one can ask if root shock that results Most discussions of climate change con- suggests that the climate emergency is a
from apparently natural causes, albeit ex- sider a time span from the pre-industrial powerful demonstration of the limits of hu-
acerbated by human activities, differs from era (about 1750) to 2100, the period when man agency and constitutes a sort of re-
root shock provoked by political or eco- emissions from fossil fuels have acceler- verse Copernican revolution in which the
nomic causes? ated and will have to be slowed. This time Earth has effectively become the center of
In almost every aspect of climate-change frame makes climate change appear some- the human universe.
experiences, place, and sense of place are how more comprehensible and managea- For the 19th and most of the 20th centu-
important because weather is locally varia- ble. The year 2100 lies within the possible ries, nature was to be dominated and ex-
ble. Floods, droughts, storm surges, de- lifetimes of those born since the turn of the ploited for its abundant resources with lit-
creasing snowpacks, and the slow decline century who have lived entirely in a rapidly tle concern for long-term consequences.
of tree species are all consequences of cli- warming world. Student protests initiated Some of those habits of thought and prac-
mate warming, but these events have very by Swedish environmental activist Greta tice remain with us, but Latour suggests
different manifestations and are further Thunberg indicate that many young people that, to survive the climate crisis, we will
differentiated by the character of the spe- share the anxiety of climate scientists need to align ourselves with nature, under-
cific places where these events are likely to about a disastrous climate future, unless stand its limits, and side with insects and
occur. immediate transformative actions are taken creatures threatened with extinction, with
Adaptations must respond to the situa- to reduce emissions. trees and forests, with ecosystems.
tions of a specific place and local Joëlle Gergis (2022), a climate scientist It is clear that we cannot avoid direct or
knowledge, including the knowledge of in- who contributed to the last IPCC report, indirect experiences of climate change.
digenous communities. This place writes that the reality of climate change Each of us has as much responsibility for
knowledge plays a critical role in how forces people to grapple with a range of the state of the Earth and its atmosphere as
adaptions might happen. The sensitivity to complex emotions. Psychoanalyst Susan for our own health and wellbeing. This is a
place and locality that phenomenology Kassouf (2022) writes about the need to responsibility, Latour wrote, “that weighs
provides should be able to facilitate adap- address the “traumatized sensibility” of on you, body and soul.” It is an intensify-
tations to climate change. what life might be like on a hotter planet in ing responsibility and warrants phenome-
A particularly promising area for phe- which catastrophes become commonplace nological investigation.
nomenological enquiry relates to the “plu- and even annihilation becomes thinkable.
ral temporalities” of past, present, and fu- Climate change involves embodied experi- References
ture implicit in most considerations of cli- ences even when its effects are not directly Gergis, J. (2022) Humanity's moment:
mate change and that underly variations in felt through unprecedented extreme How can we find meaning in a world that
understanding how serious, urgent, and weather. is both heaven and hell, The Guardian, 9
Sept 2022.

15
Hansen, J., et al. (1981) Climate impact of 2022; https://www.ny- Yamamoto, and H. Minami (eds) Theo-
increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide. times.com/2022/11/22/opinion/glaciers- retical perspectives in environment-be-
Science, 213, 957–66; alaska-climate-change.html. havior research. Boston: Springer, pp.
https://pubs.giss.nasa.gov/abs/ha04600x Latour, B. (2021) Never let a good crisis 157–78.
.html. go to waste: A little piece in The Guard- Tollesfon, J. (2021) Top climate scientists
Ihde, D. (2019) Postphenomenology and ian for Christmas on the link between are skeptical that nations will rein in
places, in Erik Champion (ed), The Phe- covid and climate; http://www.bruno- global warming, Nature, 1 November
nomenology of Real and Virtual Places. latour.fr/news and logs.html. 2021; www.nature.com/arti-
London: Routledge, pp 51–59. Murphy, D. and William, D. R. (2021) cles/d41586-021-02990-w.
IPCC (2022) Sixth Assessment Report, Navigating the temporalities of place in World Weather Attribution (2021) West-
Working Group II, Climate Change climate adaptation: Case studies from ern North American extreme heat virtu-
2022, Impacts, Adaptation and Vulner- the USA, in Christopher Raymond et al., ally impossible without human-caused
ability; https://www.ipcc.ch/re- Changing Senses of Place: Navigating climate change, 7 July 2021;
port/sixth-assessment-report-working- Global Challenges. London: Cambridge www.worldweatherattribution.org/west-
group-ii/. Univ. Press, pp. 32–42. ern-north-american-extreme-heat-virtu-
Kassouf, S. (2022) Thinking catastrophic NOAA How is weather different from cli- ally-impossible-without-human-caused-
thoughts: A traumatized sensibility on a mate? www.noaa.gov/explainers/what- climate-change/.
hotter planet, The American Journal of s-difference-between-climate-and- .
Psychoanalysis, 82, 60–79. weather.
Kizzia, T. (2022) End-times tourism in the Seamon, D. (2000) A way of seeing people
land of glaciers, New York Times, Nov. and place, in S. Wapner, J. Demick, T.

16
Toward a Phenomenology of Nature-made and Human-
made Genius Loci
Robert Josef Kozljanič
Kozljanič is a philosopher who did his doctorate under the direction of Gernot Böhme at the Technical University of Darmstadt in
Germany. His dissertation was entitled, “The Spirit of a Place—Cultural History and Phenomenology of the Genius Loci,” and was
published in German in 2004. [email protected]. Text and images © 2023 Robert Josef Kozljanič. Image captions, p. 24.

T
he Latin term “genius Genius loci arising from
loci” (pl. “genii lo-
corum”) literally
nature
Characteristic nature-dominated
means “spirit of place.”
places tend to maintain their
According to the ancient Ro-
spirit through themselves or
mans, all individual human be-
through the expressive-atmos-
ings had their own unique genius.
pheric qualities and properties in
Similarly, certain places had
situ. Examples of such nature-
their own genius: in other words,
dominated places include
a local spirit. It was believed that
springs, hills, creeks, rocks,
this genius constituted the char-
coves, groves, caves, and river
acter of a person or a place [1].
places. Nymphs are also im-
This spirit was equally regarded
portant spirits of places, in antiq-
as protective or tutelary and,
uity and throughout art history:
thus, sometimes called and hon-
for example, the often-lovely
ored as the “tutela” or “tutela
spirits of trees, springs, moun-
loci” [2].
tains, and bays [image below].
A Roman wall-painting from
The art-historical topos of the
Herculaneum illustrates in a
locus amoenus traces back to such
strikingly graphic way how the spirit of “Genius loci” thus means a place that
nymphic places. Famous is the locus amoe-
place was conceived and what it signified. has a special, characteristic spirit. A place
nus described by Longus (2nd century AD)
In the image [above right], we see a small has such a spirit either through itself, as a
in his novel, “Daphnis and Chloe,” with its
circular altar, around which a serpent kind of innate spirit (“ingenium loci”), or
classical triad of spring, tree, and rock.
winds its way upward. Its tail touches the through what people have inscribed in it,
Even the muses have originally been
earth, and its head stretches over the altar’s whether materially or immaterially [5]. But
nymphs themselves—singing and dancing
top. The serpent—unambiguously identi- whether innate or inscribed, decisive is that
mountain nymphs (Greek: oreades). Hip-
fied by the inscription to its right, this spirit has developed naturally and/or
pocrene, their sacred spring at Mount Hel-
“GENIVS HVIVS LOCI MONTIS,” as a historically. Equally important, the genius
icon, where they appeared to Hesiod (cf.
manifestation of “the genius of this part of loci is not only a spirit that has developed,
Hes. theog. 1-10), is still the symbol of po-
the mountain”—is eating the offering of but continues to develop. For every ge-
etic initiation and inspiration [8]. The place
food placed on the altar [3]. nius—including that of a place—is a
and the atmosphere of Hippocrene can still
To the left of the painting, a boy ap- “spirit of becoming” [6]. This processual
proaches the altar. In his right hand, he aspect is also suggested
holds a branch. On his head, he wears a by the etymology of the
garland. He could be a shepherd boy who, word: “The origin of the
ritually dressed, comes to this part of the name from the root gen
mountain to make a sacrifice or offering to in gignere is obvious and
the genius for his flock’s welfare. This was not misunderstood
conjecture is supported by verses from by the ancients” [7].
Calpurnius: In spring the shepherd should Gignere means to beget,
first sacrifice—“Invoke with salted meal to bring forth, to give
the gods, / The guardian genius of the spot birth to.
/ The Lars and Faunus“—then let the flock
go to pasture [4].

17
 shutting out a view of the sky by a veil of
pleached and intertwining branches, then
the loftiness of the forest, the mysterious-
ness of the place [secretum loci], and your
marvel at the thick unbroken shade in the
midst of the open landscape, will prove to
you the presence of the numinous [numi-
nis]. Or if a cave, made by the deep crum-
be seen and sensed today and have the nymph of the sacred spring. / Do bling of the rocks, holds up a mountain on
same classic triad: spring, tree, rock [image not disturb my sleep. I am resting”) its arch, a place not built with hands but
above]. This triad has mythological, icon- [[image below]. hollowed out into such spaciousness by
ographic ideal-typical, and even archetypi- ▪ The famous demand in Alexander forces of nature, your soul will be deeply
cal significance [9]. Pope’s (1688–1744) “Epistle to [...] moved by a certain intimation of the exist-
Burlington”, significant for the ence of the divine [religionis suspicione
Locus amoenus and genius loci history of the English landscape percutiet]. We worship the sources of
Locus amoenus and genius loci appear re- garden: “Consult the Genius of the mighty rivers; we erect altars at places
peatedly in art history as commonplaces— Place in all” [12]. where great streams burst suddenly from
often with a tendency toward the afore- ▪ The “Serpent Stone,” erected in hidden sources; we adore springs of hot
mentioned triad of spring, tree, and rock. honor of Goethe in 1787 in the water as divine, and consecrate certain
Here are five examples [10]: English landscape garden on the pools because of their dark waters or their
Ilm (Weimar) with the inscription immeasurable depth” [13].
▪ The inscription, “HVIVS NYMPHA “Genio huius loci”—“To the spirit
LOCI ...” on the painting, of this place”. Human-made genius loci
“Sleeping Nymph,” by Albrecht ▪ The painting, “A Naiad or Hylas Unlike natural sites, characteristic cultural
Dürer (1471–1528) [11]. with a Nymph” (1893), by John sites obtain their spirit primarily through
▪ The painting, “The Nymph of the William Waterhouse (1849–1917). social references, human imprints, and im-
Spring” (after 1537), by Lucas material inscribings—for example,
Cranach the elder (1472–1553) A description by Seneca (1st century through cultural codifications and interpre-
with inscription “FONTIS AD) demonstrates that the atmosphere of a tations; historical traditions and stereotyp-
NYMPHA SACRI SOM: / NVM NE genius loci site can be not only graceful, ings; collective memories and narratives;
RVMPE QVIESCO” (“I am the beautiful, and lovely but also sublime, ee- social functions and psychic projections;
rie, oppressive, over- and, last but not least, through architectural
whelming, and above design and fabrication. While natural ge-
all numinous [image nius loci sites largely speak for themselves,
above right]. This de- at least atmospherically and physiognomi-
scription is found in cally, cultural sites require fuller explana-
the 41st Letter to Lu- tion and instruction.
cilius: Numerous imperial testimonials provide
direct evidence of the domestic signifi-
If ever you have come cance of the genius loci, or to the genius of
upon a grove that is the home [14]. Many inscriptions bear wit-
full of ancient trees ness to a village or civic cult: to the genius
which have grown to of a village, a district, the place for the as-
an unusual height, sembly, the food stores or the granary, the

18
customs office, the watch station, the thea- snakes and river gods or sometimes as Edward Relph, David Seamon and Tomáš
ter, the threshing floor, the meat market, bulls. Tree nymphs were sometimes de- Valena should be mentioned here. These
the school, or the baths [15]. A genius of picted in tree form, and mountain gods in authors have one thing in common: they
the port is known from Ostia among others; mountain form [image below]. take pre-theoretical lifeworld experiences
or a genius of the city from Lugdunum seriously and use a new phenomenological
(Lyon) [image below]. Even in a military approach in which the concept of lived
context, the genius is not without its signif- space, felt body, and spatially manifest at-
icance—as the genius exercitus [16]. mospheres is important or even crucial.
The ancient Romans attributed a genius In doing so, they re-actualize and revise
loci above all to these characteristic natural older phenomenological and life-philo-
and cultural sites. As can be seen, these are sophical theories by Ludwig Klages,
clearly definable and delimitable small- Karlfried von Dürckheim, Martin
scale places and not entire landscapes that Heidegger, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Otto
extend to the horizon—and certainly not Friedrich Bollnow, Yi-Fu Tuan, Christian
larger geographical units or even climate Norberg-Schulz—but above all Hermann
zones [17]. Schmitz (1928–2021). Founder of what he
calls “New Phenomenology,” Schmitz
criticizes leading philosophers and scien-
tists for cutting off human thinking from
the most important parts of spontaneous
life experience through exaggerated-ab-
All these local deities belong to the so- stract constructions out of touch with eve-
called lower mythology. This designation ryday life. In contrast, Schmitz shows that
indicates not only the proximity of these genuine life experiences not necessarily re-
religious ideas to popular belief, but also quire or presuppose abstract super-con-
their great age. Belief in local protective cepts nor singled-out hard facts (Schmitz:
deities is one of the oldest religious tradi- “objective facts”) but, first of all, holistic,
tions in human culture. It is found world- meaningful situations.
wide in archaic (e.g., shamanic) cultures According to Schmitz, these situations
and can be traced back to prehistoric times are the original objects of perception—the
[18]. It can also be found in neolithic-ma- original phenomena [22]. They appear as
tricentric contexts [19]. bodily-felt, interwoven ambiance-ensem-
Anthropologists and ethnographers to- bles with internally diffuse but rich struc-
day also frequently come across these local ture [23]. Although they occur only in a
spirits among indigenous peoples [20]. subjective state of affective involvement,
These local deities are based on numinous- they are more than subjective: they are in-
Genius loci and polydaimonism
This genius loci was considered, according
atmospheric and visionary experiences of tersubjective gentle facts (Schmitz: “sub-
to the polytheistic worldview, a numen or
the place. As native peoples credibly af- jective facts”) concerning reality. It is the
firm, these deities can be bodily felt, men- task of the phenomenologist to examine,
daimon—a daimonic deity. Usually, these
tally imagined, and visionarily experi- distinguish, and explicate these initially
local daimons were worshipped cultically.
enced as numinous or daimonic powers. diffuse ensembles. According to Schmitz,
People prayed and spoke to them, sang and
danced, consecrated something and sacri-
One of the most profound interpreters of poetry is a “gentle explication of situa-
ficed to them so that local life might be
the primordial mythical worldview, the tions” [24]. The phenomenologist should
psychologist and philosopher Ludwig also gently verbalize and explicate situa-
protected and promoted. Examples of such
Klages (1872–1956), therefore speaks of tions—but, as far as possible, systemati-
genius-loci-like beings include mountain
and river deities, spring and tree nymphs, visionary appearing “archetypes of reality” cally and unmetaphorically [25].
hearth and store gods (lares and penates), (“Bilder der Wirklichkeit”—“primal im- Schmitz was able to prove in a concep-
forest gods and wilderness goddesses, lo- ages of reality”) and a closely related “pol- tually differentiated way that genius loci
cal heroes and deified people, ancestor ydaimonism”: “The true daimon is the dai- sites are internally meaningful, diffuse,
gods and spirits of the dead (manes), genii mon of a place, of an area, of an element, and manifold situations. He identifies two
of the army and theater, deities of the har- changing with their appearances, accepting main situation types:
bor or city. The classical anthropomorphic the sacrifices of its devotees” [21].
1. Impressive-present situations;
representation of the genii was standing
with toga and cornucopia. In the case of Schmitz’s New Phenomenology suddenly and significantly
In the last 20 years, the phenomenon of ge- appearing in an overall impression
spring nymphs and river gods, they tended of felt presence.
to be reclining with an overturned urn or nius loci has been more accurately de-
scribed. Gernot Böhme, Tonino Griffero, 2. Segmented-complex situations;
vase flowing with water. Theriomorphi- appearing fragmented and
cally, the local genii were often depicted as Robert Josef Kozljanič, Juhani Pallasmaa,

19
 uncomplete in one or few segments “local divine atmospheres” and, thus, espe- It is obvious that this “common pres-
and therefore requiring further cially to all numinous genius loci sites ence” cannot be understood only theoreti-
knowledgeable additions and [28]. cally but must be looked for through phe-
contextualisation. nomenological “field research”—in other
Place and common presence words, through “thick participation” and
Situations are impressive-present “when The ambiguous term “sense of place”— “thick description” [34]. This point has
they suddenly come to the fore in their in- used by phenomenologists such as Edward been seen repeatedly, but seldom clearly
tegrated meaning (like dangerous situa- Relph and David Seamon—comes quite enough [35]. In particular, Jürgen Hasse
tions that have to be grasped holistically close to Schmitz’s concept of situationally has set new standards with his “microlo-
and answered aptly at a stroke in order not accessible and bodily perceptible atmos- gies of spatial experience.” He recorded his
to fall victim to the danger) ….” [26]. Ear- pheres [29]. Seamon speaks of “atmos- impressions in meticulous on-site proto-
lier, I explained that places of natural ge- pheric qualities like sense of place” and cols and reflected on them neo-phenome-
nius loci largely speak for themselves, says that one task of phenomenological re- nologically. “The great degree of differen-
whereas cultural sites require fuller expli- search is to “clarify the lived subtlety of tiation” illustrated by his micrologies
cation and understanding. Drawing on sense of place” [30]. “Sense of place” “owes itself exclusively to the careful ex-
Schmitz’s contrasting modes of situation, could be paraphrased as “felt meaning of a plication of atmospheric experience in the
we can now clarify why this fuller exami- place” and also relates to “the sensuous actual situation of being-with” [36]. In his
nation is required: because natural sites ability to feel this meaning.” micrologies, Hasse referred primarily to
correspond more to impressive situations, With reference to Relph, Seamon distin- ordinary, everyday places—not genius loci
and cultural sites more to segmented ones. guishes between “genius loci” and “sense sites. For studying sense of place, his
A specific feature of these subjectively of place” (in a narrower meaning) [31]. method of distanced participation would
experienceable and intersubjectively com- The former is described as “the singular need to be deepened via thick participation.
municable situations is that they are atmos- qualities of a particular landscape or envi-
pherically charged and only become tangi- ronment that infuse it with a unique ambi- Anchored atmospheres & auratic
ble and articulate in their spatially ex- ence and character,” while the latter is “the
tended “flowing” atmospheres. Schmitz
places
synaesthetic and largely unself-conscious Robert Josef Kozljanič was the first thinker
said of the Rhine River’s Loreley and other facility of human beings to recognize, feel, to clearly distinguish between place, land-
siren-like spirits of place that they draw and sense the uniqueness of a particular” scape, and climate zone. He demonstrated
their “power of suggestion from the nim- place [32]. that Christian Norberg-Schulz’s genius
bus of a powerful atmosphere,” from a In this phrasing, “genius loci” represents loci types are landscape or climate types
“highly emotive” mood [27] [image be- the intersubjectively perceived-object side, and not place types. Even so, Norberg-
low]. while “sense of place” relates to the bodily Schulz’s phenomenology and typology re-
These atmospheres are thus situation- felt-subject side. If the layperson or phe- mains a first and important (but incom-
ally-intersubjectively accessible and sub- nomenologist hasn’t developed and culti- plete) attempt at a phenomenology of
jectively-bodily perceptible, especially in a vated a sense of place, he or she won’t be place.
state of affective involvement. Only then able to detect and analyse any genius loci; In his work, Kozljanič argues that places
do they show themselves as spatially or, using Seamon’s terminology, there will are delimitable, small-scale locations (usu-
given, i.e., actually lying in the landscape be no awareness of “common presence.” ally smaller than a football field) whereas
and not (as is often assumed) psychically Seamon’s concept of “common presence” landscapes are panoramatically overview-
projected or even socio-culturally con- is similar to Schmitz’s concept of common able, larger-scale regions (that can extend
structed. Schmitz usually emphasizes that impressive situations but is less formal and to the horizon). In turn, climate zones are
these atmospheres are quasi-climatic, fra- closer to lived experience. Seamon argues huge geographical units that reach much
grance-like, and spatially flowing phenom- that the relative togetherness of entities in farther than the eye can see (unless one
ena. This also applies to what Schmitz calls space—material and human qualities as looks on from outer space) [37].
well—sustains an Kozljanič demonstrates that atmos-
environmental pheres are not only quasi-climatic, fra-
“common pres- grance-like, and spatially flowing “diffu-
ence” that emerges sivities.” In concretizing Schmitz, Ko-
as a sensible quality zljanič emphasizes that atmospheres are
shared by these lo- also condensed in a place and anchored in
cal entities: The specific things and shapes. They can be ex-
common presence perienced empathically, perceived physi-
of a place refers to ognomically, and communicated intersub-
“its degree of ‘life’ jectively as “thingly” phenomena within
and its environmen- affective-expressive encounter-situations
tal character” [33]. [38].
These “thingly” phenomena and their
shape are of crucial importance. If they are

20
 In his use of affordances, Griffero places
aesthetic-pathic suggestions alongside the
pragmatic-active options for action. This
extension rounds off the ethological as-
pects of “affordance,” deepens it, and gives
it enormous phenomenological relevance.
“Affordance” now means stimulating op-
tions and “mesmerizing” significances ra-
diating from people-place-interactions,
people-place-correlations, and people-
place empathies—for example, kinetic
suggestions or psychic image-initiations,
correspondence relationships or resonance
possibilities, bodily-activating triggers or
bodily-pathic resonances.
These modes of affordances arise from
situations and their effects and whether
they are embedded features, functional dis-
positions, or expressive atmospheres.
Whatever the particular experiential ex-
pression, Griffero’s focus is on “pathic aes-
thetics.” His primary concern is “pathic af-
fordances, responsible for our spontane-
ous-intuitive evaluations.” His innovative
idea is that:

atmospheres function as (amodal) af-

fordances, i. e. as ecological invitations or
removed or technically dominated or su- 4. The enchantment of the meanings that are ontologically rooted in
perstructured, the atmosphere and charac- contemplator by a mesmerizing or things and quasi-things, namely as de-
ter of the place will seriously be damaged. “ecstatic” thing [39]. mands that are not only pragmatic-behav-
This happened to the Rhine’s scenic Lore- 5. The multi-layered testimony- ioural and visual. While the environment
ley Valley, which has almost completely character of a memorial-like object. can invite a certain action or even urge a
lost its threatening and mysterious atmos- person to do something, to an atmospheric
phere due to construction works: a railway Kozljanič was able to confirm and specify affordance indeed one does not necessarily
line and tunnel in 1862, then quay and these five components through an investi- react with a given behaviour.… [O]ne may
road, blasting of the river stones in the gation of lifeworld experiences surround- also react to atmospheric qualia with an
1930s, and construction of an open-air ing the conflict over the preservation of the (also aesthetic) distance, in the sense that
Nazi theatre in 1935–39. ruins of the Frankfurt Jewish ghetto [40] we can feel the atmosphere of a chair, for
A modern equivalent of the Roman term [image above]. example, both by sitting on it and by per-
“numen” is “aura,” coined by Walter Ben- ceiving it from a distance [42].
jamin in his essay, “The Work of Art in the Atmospheric affordances
Genius loci sites are thus marked by au-
Age of Mechanical Reproduction” (1935): Italian philosopher Tonino Griffero pro-
vides one of the most recent and forward- ratic and particularly “bubbly” expressive-
Every original and ingenious work of art
atmospheric affordances [43]: “My hy-
has or can have a special “aura” that can be looking contributions to a phenomenology
of genius loci. He too revises and concre- pothesis is therefore that a place has its
lost through reproduction and instrumen-
tises Schmitz’s concept of atmospheres. own genius only if (when and where) it ra-
talization. Kozljanič argues that the same
Central to Griffero’s argument is the term diates an intense and authoritative specific
can be said of original and ingenious
“affordances,” which he adopts from atmosphere” [44].
places. He differentiates five essential
components: American psychologist James J. Gibson:
“The affordances of the environment are Interpretive layers and levels
1. The uniqueness of the object. what it offers the animal, what it provides It is obvious that a mono-perspectival ap-
2. The sensuous presence of the or furnishes, either for good or ill.… I proach cannot do justice to the phenome-
original. mean by it something that refers to both the non of genius loci, neither lifeworld-wise
3. The aesthetic and contemplative environment and the animal in a way that nor methodologically. For example, Ko-
distance of the viewer. no existing term does. It implies the com- zljanič already in 2004 consciously
plementarity of the animal and the environ-
ment” [41].

21
worked with a layer-historical that goes beyond a purely phenom-
method; he creatively followed Ni- enological approach. Just as the ar-
colai Hartmann’s ontology of layers chaeologist digs deeper in the earth
(or levels), revised in terms of cul- to uncover layer after layer, the
tural history. These different histor- cultural researcher can dig deeper
ical layers correspond to specific into social and cultural memory,
modes of access (archaic-mythical, layer by layer [50].
Christian-allegorical, modern-secu- Finally, one must remember that
lar, rationalist-technical) and to spe- history is based on stories. Because
cific human-place relationships (in- of a still powerful and power-ob-
tegrative-adaptive, preserving- sessed patriarchal tradition, the
trans-formative, superstructure- emphasis has mostly been his-sto-
transformative, superstructure-lev- ries. Stories of Western victors and
elling). Griffero draws on a similar ap- Seamon pointed out that at least three as- bellicists. Stories of a predatory capitalism.
proach: pects of any place are necessary: one topo- Stories of hegemonic masculinity. These
graphical, one sociographical and one at- stories need deconstruction and supple-
When interacting with a place, even the mospheric [46]. He identified these three mentation with her-stories. And we must
same one, we can in fact (a) abandon our- intertwined place aspects as environmental remember that all stories are multi-layered.
selves in an ecstatic-cultic way to it [with ensemble, people-in-place, and common Parallel to studies of layers and struc-
Kozljanič: archaic-mythical access]; or presence: “The key word is togetherness, tures are studies of relational structures
(b) intervene through material or ideal su- whereby the environmental and human el- that emanate from or lead to the place.
perstructures, as with the Christian rein- ements of place are together (or not) in a Both modes of study are equally important.
terpretation and architectural re-function- mode of belonging (or not) that supports One goes into depth, the other into breadth.
alization of previously pagan sacred (or undermines) the life and wholeness of How these contrasting perspectives and
places [with Kozljanič: christian-allegori- the place” [47] [image above]. approaches can be integrated into an over-
cal or modern-secular access]; finally (c) Tomáš Valena brought forward a second arching theory without loss of differentia-
we can flatten [the place], making it per- important key word: relatedness: “Man has tion is still unclear today. Seamon’s multi-
fectly suited to host new architectural pro- a primal need to relate the objects and phe- perspective methodology may be one di-
jects (almost) totally unrelated to the char- nomena of his world to each other.” rection. His conceptual presentation of
acter of the place [with Kozljanič: radical- Through a reciprocal, multi-layered place does not end with the triadic structure
ized modern access or rationalist-tech- trilogue between people, building and of environmental ensemble, people-in-
nical access]. Only in the first case do we place, “site-bound” relationships are cre- place, and common presence. Rather, the
have a full experience of the genius loci” ated [48]. approach is open and expandable, pointing
[45]. to tetradic, pentadic, and hexadic dimen-
Living, experiencing, remembering sion of place and place experience.
I would add, however, that today the ar-
In 2011, Hasse and Kozljanič pointed to
chaic-mythical approach is very often ide-
three important modes of place inquiry: Notes
ologically super-structured and civilisa-
Living, experiencing, remembering. In re- 1. See R. J. Kozljanič: Der Geist eines
tion-process-related overlayered. Usually,
lation to lived space and living, bodily ex- Ortes, Kulturgeschichte und Phänome-
we can’t just jump in. Rather, we must re-
perience is primarily expressive-atmos- nologie des Genius Loci, vol. 1, Munich,
move the upper layers first, move through
pheric and often rooted in impressive-pre- Albunea, 2004, pp. 28–78.
them, and deepen our experience. What we
sent situations. In turn, place experiencing, 2. See, for example, Petronius, Satyricon,
need is a kind of felt and mental archaeol-
particularly as it involves landscapes, is of- §57, 1.2, in Petronius; Seneca, “Apocol-
ogy of our being-in-the-world and our be-
ten shaped by the sensuous-aesthetic—in ocyntosis,” Cambridge, MA: Harvard
ing-in-place.
other words, by temporal categories of life Univ. Press, p. 119; or the inscription in
experience and by aesthetic forms of per- the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum,
A multi-perspectival approach ception that have become historical. bibliographical details for which are
The person who has so far worked most Yet again, remembering relates to men- available at: https://cil.bbaw.de/haupt-
stringently with a multi-perspectival pro- tal-cultural, associative meanings and nar- navigation/das-cil/baende (accessed Jan.
cedure, both theoretically and practically, rated stories sedimented in socio-cultural 5, 2023); this document is henceforth ab-
is David Seamon. He has argued that ge- memory. It is through remembering that breviated as CIL here;, CIL, vol. 6.1, no.
nius loci can best be explicated via a triadic significant places of memory become ac- 216 p. 40; vol. 13.1, no. 440, p. 58.
procedure grounded in pre-scientific life- cessible. These mnemotopes are less an- 3. See T. Birt, “Genius,” in W. H. Roscher
world experiences. He draws on a creative, chored in impressive situations and only et al. (eds.), Ausführliches Lexikon der
phenomenological continuation of British partially in segmented situations [49]. One griechischen und römischen Mytholo-
philosopher J. G. Bennett’s method of can speak of sedimented-complex situa- gie, 6 vols, Leipzig: Teubner, 1886–
“systematics.” tions that can only be located via a cultural- 1937, vol. 1.2, cols. 1613–25; col. 1624,
historical-semantic layer interpretation

22
 includes a reproduction of the picture 6352, pp. 308 and 591) or pagi (CIL, vol. 22. Cf. M. Großheim, “Zu den Situationen
from Herculaneum. 5.1, no. 4909, p. 515); genius curiae selbst! Ein Vorschlag zur Reform der
4. Calpurnius Siculus, 5, 26; see Cal- (CIL, vol. 8.1, no. 1548, p. 189); genius Phänomenologie” [“To the Situations
purnius Siculus, The Eclogues, London: conservator horreorum (CIL, vol. 6, no. Themselves! Proposal for the Refor-
George Bell and Sons, 1890, p. 95. 236, p. 46) or tutelae horreorum (CIL, mation of Phenomenology”], in Synthe-
5. Cf. Ovid, met. 3, 157–162, also: trist. 5, vol. 2, no. 2991, p. 406); genius portorii sis Philosophica 2/2018, 303–25.
10, 18; Pont. 2, 1, 52; 4, 7, 22. (CIL, vol. 3.1, nos 751–52, p. 142); 23. With regard to the term “ambiance”,
6. See Birt, “Genius,” col. 1614; and: R. J. genius area frumentariae augustus see J.-P. Thibaud, Ambiance, Interna-
Kozljanič: Der Geist eines Ortes, l. c., (CIL, vol. 8.1, no. 6339, p. 590); genius tional Lexicon of Aesthetics; https://lexi-
vol. 1, p. 50, 67. macelli (CIL, vol. 2, no. 2413, p. 339); con.mimesisjournals.com/ar-
7. W. F. Otto, „Genius,“ in G. Wissowa et scholae (CIL, vol. 8.1, no. 2601, p. 308); chive/2022/spring/Ambiance.pdf (ac-
al. (eds), Paulys Real-Encyclopädie der thermarum (CIL, vol. 8.1, no. 8926, p. cessed January 5, 2023).
classischen Altertumswissenschaft, 1st 761); cited in Birt, “Genius,” cols 1621– 24. H. Schmitz, Der unerschöpfliche Ge-
edn, 20 vols, Stuttgart: Metzler and Al- 22. genstand, 2nd edn., Bonn, Bouvier,
fred Druckenmüller, 1894–1963, vol. 16. I. Romeo, “Genius,” in Lexicon Icono- 1995, p. 461f; see Alexander Pope’s fa-
7.1, cols 1155–70 (here: col. 1156). Ac- graphicum Mythologiae Classicae mous translation of a Latin verse:
cording to the OED, the Latin genius de- (LIMC), vol. VIII (suppl.), Zürich, Arte- “Nymph of the grot, these springs I keep,
rives from the base of gignere, “to be- mis & Winkler,1997, pp. 599–607 (here: / And to the murmurs of these waters
get,” and in turn the Greek gignesthai, p. 603 no. 35, p. 604 no. 42, p. 603 no. sleep; / Ah, spare my slumbers, gently
“to be born” or “to come into being.” 28). tread the cave! / And drink in silence, or
8. Cf. E. R. Curtius, European Literature 17. A genius britanniae or a genius populi in silence lave!” (1725). A beautiful
and the Latin Middle Ages (1948), romani are exceptions that prove the metaphor indicating that one should
Princeton, Princeton University Press rule. tread (and treat) a genius loci site gently!
2013, pp. 183–202 (“The Ideal Land- 18. Prominent here is the guardian god- 25. See H. Schmitz, New Phenomenology:
scape”), pp. 228–46 (“The Muses”), desses of animals and caves; see H. P. A Brief Introduction, Milan, Mimesis,
474f (“The Poet’s Divine Frenzy”). Duerr, Dreamtime—Concerning the 2019; and: H. Schmitz, The “New Phe-
9. To the best of my knowledge, the first Boundary Between Wilderness and Civ- nomenology,” in Phenomenology
person to point out this decisive triad ilization, Oxford, Blackwell, 1985, § 2 u. World-Wide, Anna-Teresa Tymie-
was the poet Heinrich Heine in his writ- 3. On Siberian shamanism, see H. niecka, ed., Dordrecht, Kluwer, 2002,
ing “Elementary Spirits” (“Elementar- Findeisen, H. Gehrts, Die Schamanen, pp. 491–94.
geister,” 1837). Cf. R. J. Kozljanič: Der Munich, Diederichs,1983, pp. 28–30. 26. H. Schmitz, Was ist Neue Phänomenol-
Geist eines Ortes, Kulturgeschichte und 19. M. Gimbutas, The Civilization of the ogie? Rostock, Ingo Koch, 2003, p. 91.
Phänomenologie des Genius Loci, vol. Goddess, NY, HarperCollins,1991, p. 27. H. Schmitz, System der Philosophie,
2, Munich, Albunea, 2004, p. 38f. 251 (“Guardians of Wild Nature,” Figs. Vols. 3, 4, Das Göttliche und der Raum,
10. Further examples can be found in J. D. 7–45). Bonn, Bouvier, 1977, p. 150.
Hunt, Genius Loci. An Essay on the 20. Cf. David Bruno and Meredith Wilson 28. H. Schmitz, System der Philosophie,
Meanings of Place, London, Reaktion (eds.): Inscribed Landscapes: Marking Vols. 3, 4, pp. 128-34. With good rea-
Book, 2022. and Making Place. Honolulu: University son, Schmitz uses (p. 130) the same Sen-
11. See Otto Kurz, “Huius Nympha Loci: of Hawai’i Press, 2002, Chap. 4; Tim In- eca quotation in this context that I used
A Pseudo-Classical Inscription and a gold, “Hunting and Gathering as Ways above (namely Sen. epist. 4, 41, 3).
Drawing by Dürer,” in Journal of the of Perceiving the Environment,” in Re- 29. See D. Seamon, “Sense of Place,” in D.
Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Vol. defining Nature, Ellen Roy and Ka- Richardson, et al., eds., The Interna-
16, No. 3/4 (1953), pp. 171–77. tsuyoshi Fukui, London: Routledge, tional Encyclopedia of Geography, John
12. A. Pope, “Of Taste. An Epistle to Right 2020, pp. 117–56; E. Mader, Die Macht Wiley & Sons, 2022. Accessed January
Honourable Richard Earl of Burling- des Jaguars: Natur und Weltbild der 16, 2023, file:///C:/Users/User/Down-
ton,” London, Gilliver, 1731, S. 7. Cf. R. Shuar und Achuar in Amazonien, in A. loads/2022-seamon-sense-of-place-ge-
J. Kozljanič: Der Geist eines Ortes, vol. Gingrich et al. (eds.), Metamorphosen ography-encyclopedia-aag-wiley-1-
2, l. c., pp. 207–38. der Natur: Sozialanthropologische Un- 1.pdf.
13.Sen. epist. 4, 41, 3; my translation, tersuchungen zum Verhältnis von Welt- 30. D. Seamon, “Sense of Place,” p. l.
based on: Seneca, Ad Lucilium Epistulae bild und natürlicher Umwelt, Wien- 31. E. Relph, “A Pragmatic Sense of
Morales, NY, 1925 pp. 273–75. Köln-Weimar, Böhlau, 2002, pp.183– Place,” Environmental and Architec-
14. For example, genio domi suae ... aram 222. tural Phenomenology, 20/3 (2009), pp.
(CIL, vol. 8.1, no. 2597, p. 307); [Io]vi 21. P. Bishop, Ludwig Klages and the Phi- 24–31.
o. m. et [He]rculi et [Sil]vano et [Ge]nio losophy of Life, London: Routledge, 32. D. Seamon, “Sense of Place,” p. l.
[do]mus (CIL, vol. 13.2, no. 8016, p. 2018, p. 101f. L. Klages, Der Geist als 33. D. Seamon, Life Takes Place. Phenom-
539); cited in Otto, “Genius,” col. 1167. Widersacher der Seele, Bonn, Bouvier, enology, Lifeworlds, and Place Making,
15. See, for example, the references to 1981, p. 1264. (First publication Leip- London, Routledge, 2018, pp. 87–90.
genius vici (CIL, vol. 8.1, nos 2604 and zig, 1929–1932).

23
34. See: G. Spitteler, Dichte Teilnahme Ortes—am Beispiel der Judengasse Kozljanič, eds., Munich, Albunea, 2011,
und darüber hinaus [Thick Participation Frankfurt, in Symbolon, Jahrbuch für p. 9–21.
and Beyond], Sociologus 64/2014, pp. Symbolforschung, Neue Folge, Bd. 19, 50. Cf. R. J. Kozljanič, Landschaft als
207-30; C. Geertz, “Thick Description: H. Jung, ed., Frankfurt, Peter Lang, physiognomisch-atmosphärisches und
Toward an Interpretive Theory of Cul- 2014, pp. 193–217. geistig-kulturelles Phänomen, in Jahr-
ture,” in The Interpretation of Cultures: 41. J. J. Gibson, The Theory of Af- buch für Lebensphilosophie, 5, 2010–
Selected Essays, NY, Basic Books, fordances: The Ecological Approach to 2011, pp. 157–76; cf. R. J. Kozljanič,
1973, pp. 3–30. Visual Perception. Boston, Houghton Geschichten der Bethen—Vom heutigen
35. Cf. C. Tilley, The Materiality of Stone: Mifflin Harcourt, 1979. p. 127; see T. Bethen-Kult über den christlichen Drei-
Explorations in Landscape Phenome- Griffero, Places, Affordances, Atmos- Jungfrauen-Kult zum mythischen Ma-
nology, Oxford, Berg, 2004, pp. 27f. pheres. A Pathic Aesthetics, London, tronen-Kult und zurück, in Hagia Chora,
36. J. Hasse, Die Aura des Einfachen. Mik- Routledge, 2020, p. 81. 36, 2011, pp. 46–51.
rologien des räumlichen Erlebens, vol. 42. T. Griffero: Places, Affordances, At-
1, Munich, Alber, 2017, p. 170. mospheres, p. 101. Images
37. See C. Norberg-Schulz, Genius Loci: 43. Cf. P. Sloterdijk, Bubbles: Spheres p. 17: Roman wall-painting from Hercula-
Towards a Phenomenology of Architec- Volume I: Microspherology, Los Ange- neum.
ture, New York, Rizzoli, 1980; R. J. Ko- les, Semiotext(e), 2011 (orig. ed. 1998). p. 17: Reclining nymph with an overturned
zljanič, Der Geist eines Ortes, vol. 2, pp. 44. T. Griffero: Places, Affordances, At- urn. Fountain fragment from Rome, 2nd
258 and 309–20; T. Griffero, Places, Af- mospheres, p. 145. Cf. T. Griffero, century. Vienna Museum of Art History.
fordances, Atmospheres. A Pathic Aes- Quasi-Things. The Paradigma of Atmos- p. 18: Hippocrene at Mount Helicon.
thetics, London, Routledge, 2020, p. pheres, Albany, NY, State Univ. of New p. 18: Reclining spring nymph by Lucas
140f. York Press, 2017, pp. 29-38; and: M. Cranach, 1530–1535.
38. See R. J. Kozljanič, “Genius Loci and Tedeschini, La differenza del genio. p. 18: Detail from the numinous Corycian
the Numen of a Place: A Mytho-Phe- Problema teorico, soluzione estetica, Cave near Delphi.
nomenological Approach to the Ar- Sensibilia, 9) [special issue on genius p. 19: Genius from Lugdunum (Lyon). In
chaic,” in The Archaic: The Past in the loci], Milano, Mimesis, 2017, pp. 351– front of the genius on the left a sacrific-
Present, P. Bishop, ed., London, 65. ing Roman colony founder. Terracotta
Routledge 2012, pp. 69–92, here pp. 82– 45. T. Griffero: Places, Affordances, At- medallion, 1st century.
87; also: R. J. Kozljanič, Der Geist eines mospheres, p. 144. p. 19: Nymphae Querquetulanae. Tree
Ortes, vol. 2, pp. 330–35. 46. J. G. Bennett, Elementary Systematics, nymphs from a sacred oak grove near
39. See the phrase “ecstasy of things” in re- Santa Fe, NM, Bennett Books, 1993. Rome. Silver denarius, 43 BCE.
lation to the term “aura” in G. Böhme, 47. D. Seamon, Life Takes Place, p. 90. p. 20: Lurlei or Loreley. Postcard, ca 1900.
Atmosphäre, Essays zur neuen Ästhetik, 48. T. Valena, Zu einer Phänomenologie p. 21: Jewish Ghetto Frankfurt. Engraving
Frankfurt, Suhrkamp,1995, pp. 25–34 des Genius Loci, in Genius Loci, L. Mal- by M. Merian. Detail, ca 1628. The
and 166–172; see also G. Böhme, Archi- lien et al., eds., Drachen, Klein Jasedow, ghetto is the curved, narrow street out-
tektur und Atmosphäre, 2nd edn., Mu- 2009, pp. 148–206, p. 148. side the city walls.
nich, Fink 2013, pp. 149–150. 49. J. Hasse and R. J. Kozljanič, Einlei- p. 22: three impulses generating place;
40. R. J. Kozljanič, Walter Benjamins Be- tung, in Jahrbuch für Lebensphiloso- from Seamon 2018, p. 85; used with per-
griff der Aura und die Aura eines phie, 5, 2010-2011, J. Hasse and R. J. mission.
.

24
A Place Called Utopia
Victoria King
King is an artist, writer, and poet whose work is concerned with issues of place and displacement. She lived for many years in
America and Australia, and now once again lives in England. Her artwork can be seen at: www.victoria-king.com. Text and images
© 2023 Victoria King. [email protected]. Image captions, p. 31.

A map of the world that does not include from his paternal lineage, while the mother leaden drape dangerous to draw back. The
Utopia is not worth glancing at, for it gives a Dreaming based on the place of the few ancestral stories told were always dra-
leaves out the one country at which Hu- child’s conception. matic and involved death—moral tales
manity is always landing [1]. about what would happen if I weren’t sen-
—Oscar Wilde

B ut I am not an indigenous woman;

their stories are not mine. My white
sible. Like most children, I tuned out the
same way my own son would decades

A
boriginal Australians have the skin and American accent reflect later.
oldest, continuous land-based the cultural wilderness in which I grew up. After my parents died, I began research-
culture in the world, estimated My question is more fundamental. Who am ing my family history with the incentive of
at 65,000 years. Their identities I? As a child, I was painfully shy, a silent, my granddaughter’s birth. I discovered that
are based on connections to kinfolk and acutely observant witness to natural beauty I am an imbroglio of the genetic imprint of
“country,” specific places for which they and unnatural cruelty. A child deprived of countless generations of English, Irish,
are custodians. In 1788, British coloniza- love and touch becomes emotionally mal- Scottish, German, and Scandinavian an-
tion systematically and catastrophically nourished, literally starved of affection. As cestors who were farmers, blacksmiths,
disrupted their lives through brute force, an adult, she will attract relationships that schoolteachers, railway conductors, dukes,
massacres, and disease. The government mirror the original abuse as she desperately duchesses, and Harald the Black, a man for
placed the majority of those who survived tries to prove she is worthy of love. whom a large nineth century stone menhir
on harsh stations and reserves. Christian Scientists now recognize that our cellu- still stands on the Scottish island of Islay.
missions forbade them to speak their native lar life as an egg inside our mother’s womb These victims and victimizers partici-
languages. The traumas they experienced began in the womb of our grandmother [2]. pated in religious wars and slavery, crossed
left physical and emotional scars and pro- Behavioral epigeneticists have shown that mountains, rivers, and oceans in search of
foundly affected their descendants. our ancestors’ traumas leave molecular utopias and better lives. Their hopes,
Traditional Aboriginal people perceive scars on our DNA which pass down to fu- dreams, anxieties, illnesses, and premature
time and place in a non-linear way that in- ture generations [3]. Our forebears’ expe- deaths are within my DNA. I became a
cludes past, present, and future. Dream- riences may not be known to us, but we in- seeker of truth, an inordinately shy but out-
time creation stories tell of mythological herit not only physical characteristics but spoken advocate of justice, an intrepid, ag-
beings who created every land formation, psychological and behavioral tendencies oraphobic traveller, a suicidal lover of life.
plant, and animal. The ancient stories map and traumas.
that vast island and are still sung and
danced in secret/sacred ceremonies. Chil-
dren receive Dreamings from both parents:
the father’s Dreaming is handed down
Silence, suppressed rage, and unrelent-
ing despair permeated the houses in which
I grew up, as well as those of my maternal
and paternal grandparents. The past was a
F rom an early age, I was obsessed
with a search for meaning that took
me far from my Kentucky home to

25
Europe and India to study esoteric teach- memoirs, and social and medical histories garden were reminders of where I was and
ings with Christian and Hindu mystics, Su- to facilitate greater understanding. did not want to be—in a northern English
fis, and Buddhist lamas. Whether it was suburb where I stayed for the sake of my
through insufficient devotion or lack of re-
ligious fervor, within a relatively short
time, I inevitably had reservations and
doubts.
M y story begins where I was born
in a small Kentucky town near
the Ohio River, a geographical
border between states that during the Civil
War divided north from south, a wide tur-
son.
In 1993, while my son spent the summer
with his grandfather in Kentucky, I went to
the south of France to attend a three-month
What was incontrovertible was that no Buddhist retreat given by a Tibetan lama.
matter how much I prayed or meditated, bulent river that slaves once crossed to find It was an impulsive decision that I made
my emotional pain remained. Only my pas- freedom. During the 1960s, I crossed that after reading his inspirational book on liv-
sions for nature and art were unwavering. river to Cincinnati to participate in civil ing and dying [4]. Yet in the mountains of
The beauty of the natural world dramati- rights marches and Viet Nam War protests. Languedoc amidst idyllic, ancient beech
cally, albeit temporarily, alleviated my suf- I read existentialist and Buddhist texts, and forests, I lost rather than found perspective.
fering and gave me joy. studied privately with Paul Chidlaw, an el- At the age of 42, like an infatuated teen-
As an artist, I pursued the elusive quarry derly Abstract Expressionist artist who ager, I fell in love with a retreat facilitator.
of the sublime in a life leaden with situa- once lived in Paris and Morocco. At the end of December, I went to Aus-
tional depression. Moments of respite In 1972, I came to England and studied tralia to join him for a holiday and on the
came when I relinquished control and cel- integrative spiritual philosophies with J. G. jet-setting lama’s two-week retreat.
ebrated unexpected juxtapositions of col- Bennett in a dilapidated stately home in a Three days after I arrived, he asked me
ors. Painting was my voice, and I gave tiny Cotswold village until his death three to marry him, but the 25-year relationship
every appearance of being a confident, suc- years later. I moved to the north of England that followed was like a slow train wreck.
cessful artist. Yet losing myself in color when my son was born and went to art col- During the retreat, I vowed never again to
had never been infallible despite spending lege in Manchester. A profusely flowering join a spiritual group after discovering that
long hours each day in my studio and trav- “secret” garden that I created became the our charismatic teacher was a sexual pred-
elling far to see inspirational works of art. sole inspiration for my paintings. I planted ator, something my new partner had long
Hope remained an extremely limited com- colors that resonated in my solar plexus. known [5]. He called me his “life partner”
modity, but I had mastered the art of endur- I eclectically decorated our house in the but, despite my desperate unhappiness be-
ance in childhood. shabby chic style of Bloomsbury artists, ing so far from my son, he refused to move
The phrase “sense of place” is now ubiq- collected tribal art, and made annual pil- to England.
uitous in western culture, as is the pre- grimages to see early Renaissance frescoes Thinking that he would change his mind,
sumption that having a deep connection to in Tuscany and Umbria. I became a senior I focused on my art practice and new three-
where we live comes easily. Too often, university lecturer and regularly exhibited acre garden in the Blue Mountains, annual
however, we underestimate the power of my paintings. My son’s father and I lived trips to see my son, and my growing inter-
place in our lives. Indigenous cultures do frugally by necessity, but our life was rich est in Aboriginal art. The paintings of
not make that mistake. At 17, I was cava- and full. Emily Kngwarreye (c. 1910–1996), an el-
lier about moving farther and farther from Yet stories are partial histories and ap- derly Anmatyerre woman artist from Uto-
home and didn’t look closely at my failure pearances are often deceiving. In my art pia, particularly fascinated me. Utopia is
to thrive in far-away places. I yearned to studio, I obsessively painted my garden’s comprised of 16 small Aboriginal commu-
feel at home in the three countries I’ve flowering colors without a larger perspec- nities spread across 2,400 kilometers in the
lived, yet the reality has been otherwise. tive. My hunger for beauty offset feeling arid, red center of Australia. In the 1920s,
Freud and Heidegger recognized that displaced, trapped in circumstances I felt two European brothers forcibly took the
displacement was endemic to the human unable to change. Northern light was land from its indigenous owners and called
condition and elicited feelings of unbeara- gloomy and grey. Bone-chilling rain it Utopia because of the abundance of rab-
ble emptiness as well as a sense of the un- seemed to drizzle incessantly on the grim, bits, a welcome, familiar food source, but
heimlich. Philosophers and writers recog- soot-covered archi-
nize the importance of returning to places tecture of the Indus-
of significance in our lives through jour- trial Revolution.
neys, memory, and imagination. Storytell- Sky was barely visi-
ing, be it autobiographical or biographical, ble above endless
can hold integrity as a form of personal and rows of austere,
collective revelation as well as being a po- dull, red brick
litical irritant. In the 1980s, feminists houses, and street-
sought an écriture feminine as they ex- lights muted the vis-
plored and reconstructed lost and sup- ibility of stars.
pressed records of female experience, plac- There were no long
ing emphasis upon the inclusion of non-lit- vistas, and the grow-
erary and historical data such as diaries, ing season was
short. Beyond my

26
an environmentally disastrous introduced tial with no intrinsic significance as op-
animal. It took the Anmatyerre and Al- posed to indigenous ways of seeing and ex-
yawarre people over 50 years to get their periencing the land as sacred reveals a fun-
land back. damental difference of perception that con-
tinues to undermine mutual understanding.

I n their writing on “close vision-haptic

space,” Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guat-
tari describe how indigenous people
are in a deep relationship with the ground:
“on” it, not “in front of” it [6]. Heidegger
M y father bought cheap rental
properties for extra income all
his adult life, but I have never
bought a house as an investment. When my
realized that our elemental relationship son was born, I created a life-enhancing
with place goes beyond philosophy and is home for him as well as for myself to make
concerned with our very being. Merleau- up for the lack of one during my childhood.
Ponty embraced concepts of mutuality and In English art colleges, I taught students to
participation. He contended that our per- “see” what was in front of them, not real-
ception and exchanges in the world occur izing just how important and fragile were
through the simple yet profound fact that my connections to family and home. In
our bodies are in contact with the ground. Joni Mitchell’s words: “You don’t know
He recognized the importance of the intri- what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone” [11].
cate relationship between our body and When I was barely 18, the loss of my al-
perception of the world, calling it “the beit dysfunctional home when my father
knowing touch” [7]. disowned me, my move to England at the
Touch is our most intimate and essential age of 21 to find meaning in my life, and
sense, engaging our whole body through to Australia at the age of 42 all had truly
properties of our skin. As well as being an detrimental effects upon me and others.
active sense, touch is also passive: to touch The erasures that increasingly occurred on
is to be touched. Merleau-Ponty wrote: my paintings were symptomatic of my un-
“The presence of the world is precisely the happiness and homesickness.
presence of its flesh to my flesh” [8]. David Ludwig Wittgenstein wrote that “The
Abram expanded further: “We are organs expression of a change of aspect is the ex-
of this world, flesh of its flesh, and the pression of a new perception and at the
world is perceiving itself through us” [9]. same time of the perception being un-
He suggests that this simple yet profound changed” [12]. He explored the implica- Modernism has only recently become
recognition could be the foundation for an tions of a new vision that appeared in the the focus for accusations of essentialism in
environmental ethic through attentive- field of vision, one that was half visual and its attention to how we see rather than what
ness—a “carnal, sensorial empathy” [10]. half thought, an “echo of a thought in we see, that is, difference and specificity.
Since the 1970s, a growing number of sight” [13]. Such a celebration of vision does not allow
ecologists, geographers, philosophers, ar- In the 1960s, modernist art critic Clem- for cultural difference or artists’ intentions.
chitects, artists, sociologists, feminists, an- ent Greenberg maintained that abstract art Deleuze and Guattari recognized that art
thropologists, theologians, and ethicists demands and creates certain spatial rela- galleries are by their nature “striated”
have taken the theme of place seriously and tionships between a viewer and an art ob- spaces, places of commodification that
exposed the dangers of post-modern, post- ject. He believed that paintings had be- provide a particular kind of space where
capitalist societies that construct the world come objects of the same spatial order as viewers come into close contact with art-
as a series of manipulable sites within our bodies: “It [a painting] has lost its ‘in- works while at the same time being dis-
empty space. side’ and become almost all ‘outside’, all tanced from them.
A worldview that privileges ceaseless plane surface” [14]. Striated spaces relate to distant vision
property development and the exploitation This interpretation of a surface “skin” and the optical spaces where people view
of natural resources is at extreme odds with resonates with Merleau-Ponty’s writings artworks, whereas artists create within the
that of indigenous people whose connec- on the phenomenology of perception: “In “smooth,” haptic space of close vision
tions to the land are central to their very whatever civilization it is born, from what- [16]. Since the Renaissance, there has been
being. The political and ethical dimensions ever beliefs, motives, or thoughts, no mat- an autonomy and secularization of art that
of this difference have haunted Australia ter what ceremonies surround it—and even has made it conducive to external valua-
since the first British fleet arrived in 1788; when it appears devoted to something tion.
it was in their interests to wrongly declare else—from Lascaux to our time, pure or
the continent Terra Nullius. impure, figurative or not, painting cele-
Seeing the land as infinite, without par- brates no other enigma but that of visibil-
ticularity, or only having real estate poten- ity” [15].

27
Y et in Australia, I discovered that
what seemed straightforward in
American and European galleries
was far more complex when applied to Ab-
original art. When Aboriginal paintings are
notions of the spiritual and icons of Aus-
tralia that do not reflect that country’s
shameful past and present history.
In addition to the injustice of land being
stolen from its indigenous owners, and the
displayed out of context on the walls of a massacres and rape of Aboriginal women
gallery, home, boardroom, or government that followed, the government carried out a
department far from the place of their cre- White Australia policy from 1850 to 1973
ation, the artists’ long struggles for Land and forcibly removed half-caste children
Rights and their past and present suffering from Aboriginal families. Records were
become invisible. often not kept, and many of the Stolen
For traditional Aboriginal people, art, Generation were never able to find their
country, spirituality, and kinship relation- families again. Utopia artist Barbara Weir
ships are all interconnected, and they pass was nine years old and collecting water for
their ancient oral culture and embodied, her Auntie Emily Kngwarreye when offi-
experiential knowledge to new genera- cials took her and placed her in a brutal
tions. At Utopia, women collect and grind children’s home 1,500 kilometers away in
natural ochres for awelye ceremonies, then Darwin. Her mother believed she was
paint the dots and lines specific to each girl dead, and the community did Sorry Busi-
and woman’s Dreaming on their bodies as ness death rituals.
the stories are sung. Bare feet then dance Barbara finally found her family 12
upon the sensuous, sandy ground for which years later, and her capacity to speak Eng-
they are custodians. Ground and body are lish combined with her fierce determina-
one. Aboriginal paintings are, in effect, docu- tion for justice made her instrumental in
Sand is a perfect medium for expression ments of Land Rights, something rarely ef- Utopia having the first successful Land
and contiguous with bodily experience: fectively disclosed by art galleries. As the Rights claim in 1978.
Aboriginal people walk long distances on late Western Desert artist Charlie Tjungur- When I met her in 1998 at an Aboriginal
it to hunt and gather bush tucker, sit, sleep, rayi said, “If I don’t paint this story some art gallery in Adelaide, I recognized how
cook, and eat meals upon it, draw maps in white fella might come and steal my coun- traumatized she still was and offered to
it, and now paint canvases upon it. Emily try” [17]. help her in any way that I could. Some
Kame Kngwarreye sat cross-legged in the Creating artworks has provided much- weeks later, she phoned and asked me to
middle of large, unstretched canvases laid needed financial agency for many Aborig- record the story of her life. I immediately
flat on the soft sand at Utopia to paint her inal people since 1971, when a school- agreed but told her that I’d just been diag-
linear body painting designs and dotted teacher gave acrylic paints and small nosed with ovarian cancer. Shortly after
celebrations of her Yam Dreaming. Her boards to a small group of despondent Ab- my six months of chemotherapy ended, we
name, Kame, means “yam.” She was a cus- original men at the bleak government set- began a five-year collaboration at Utopia
todian and “boss lady” for her country of tlement of Papunya [18]. It was a place of in which I transcribed her stories and those
Alhalkere, land stolen from her people profound unhappiness where the effects of of 12 other Anmatyerre and Alyawarre
which is still a non-indigenous cattle sta- displacement, trans-generational trauma, women artists in her extended family.
tion adjacent to Utopia. and loss were everywhere evident. The My hair had not yet regrown when I ar-
She began painting with acrylics on can- men first painted the designs of their se- rived at Utopia, but I did not feel out of
vas during the last eight years of her life cret/sacred ceremonies, but quickly cov- place, for many of the women had recently
and rose to meteoric fame for her bold, ered them with dots when they realized that shaved their heads for Sorry Business. I
brightly colored paintings, yet she contin- women and uninitiated boys would see found myself on a very steep learning
ued to live in a “humpy” made of three them. curve about cultural difference and quickly
sheets of corrugated iron. While post-mod- realized that my culturally ocular-centric,
ern theorists see cultural difference as po-
tentially challenging universalistic, Euro-
centric, and ethnocentric aesthetics, old vi-
sions remain intact in Aboriginal art galler-
T he fact that the appreciation of in-
digenous artworks does not extend
into meaningful action has not gone
unnoticed by the artists. Distanced from
the reality of indigenous people’s lives, the
aesthetic gaze had limited my perception
and directly affected how I viewed the
world. While walking with the women, I
felt ignorant and often blind; the land dis-
ies. Like art critics at the time, I once com- closed so much more to them than it ever
pared Kngwarreye’s paintings to those of paintings’ shimmering surfaces mesmerize would to me. Being at Utopia disrupted my
Impressionist and Abstract Expressionist us, and the dots and lines remain our blind perceptions of time, the land, art, and of
artists whose work had influenced my own. spots. Cultural difference and suffering myself.
But it was her Dreamings and embodied disappear in a celebration of surface
connection to Alhalkere that solely deter-
mined her dynamic brushstrokes.
beauty. Artworks are re-contextualized
into interior spaces where they become
symbols rather than indexes: generalized T he women’s stories were heart-
breaking, as were the third-world
conditions in which they lived and

28
 cultural witness is too frequently under-
mined.
In Regarding the Pain of Others, Susan
Sontag reflected on the consequences of
inuring ourselves to the reality of suffer-
ing: “Our failure is one of imagination, of
empathy” [21]. A deeper understanding of
indigenous cultures’ past and present op-
pression allows us an important oppor-
tunity to counter a cult of forgetting. Aus-
tralian Aboriginal paintings contain an un-
canny echo that shudders within a gap of
disturbance. They carry a plea to the be-
holder to see and act with more than visual
the racism and exploitation they endured. canvas], the marks risk growing disembod- perception. Knowledge, empathy, ethical
Being with them profoundly affected me ied” [20]. I became ashamed of my white perception, and action are all required, oth-
[19]. Through their kindness and patience, skin and so unhappy being so far from my erwise they will continue to be objects of
I slowly came to better understand their son in England that in my studio I could desire in a field of optical pleasure. These
culture and paintings. barely make a mark upon my canvases hybrid paintings have a crucial message for
In that place where time and space without erasing it. Western artists fre- all people of the importance of environ-
seemed infinite, I also saw more clearly the quently “borrow” the styles of past and mental custodianship and the fundamental
negative effects of my own displacements, present artists of all cultures, but it is relationship between kinfolk and “coun-
and that my ineffectual attempts to im- against Aboriginal Law to paint another try.”
merse myself in art, nature, spirituality, person’s Dreaming. My respect for the
and love were simply desperate attempts to
survive. Trauma anaesthetizes, permeates,
and restricts lives; activities become disso-
ciative, obsessive, monotonous, and repe-
people of Utopia made it essential for me
to find an appropriate gesture in an appro-
priated, contested land and not let the ap-
pearance of their paintings influence my
I n 2005, after a major 25-year retro-
spective of my artwork, I was canoeing
along the coast of Bruny Island, Tas-
mania, and came across a for-sale sign
nailed to a tree in front of an isolated, hum-
titious. I began to wonder if the obsessive own.
dotting that Aboriginal people made on All around the world, past and present ble wooden house that had sublime water
their canvases could reflect not only their injustices and genocidal policies toward and mountain views. My son had married
Dreamings, but the trans-generational indigenous people meet with inaction and and bought his first house, and I had just
trauma they suffered. denial. The legacy of those actions is visi- sold the large English home where he had
Paul Carter recognized that “In transfer- ble in shocking health statistics, high mor- grown up. I had money in my pocket, so to
ring the iconic signs from the performative tality rates, lower-than-average life spans, speak, and impulsively shook hands on the
context of the ceremony—where singing, and high levels of unemployment. Abo-
ground-marking and body painting com- riginal art has the power to speak to con-
bine to evoke complex abstract concepts— tentious issues, but its capacity to bear
to the permanence of the painting board [or

29
 and solar power, composting toilets, and Capitalism, The Complete Works of Os-
rainwater, bought food fortnightly on the car Wilde. 2007. Vol. 4, Oxford: Oxford
mainland, and I grew vegetables that wild- Univ. Press.
life adored. 2. D. Hurley, May 2013. Trait vs. Fate,
Blackstone’s 55 acres had long ago been Discovery magazine, pp. 48–55; R. Ya-
clear-felled for sheep grazing. With volun- huda and A. Lehrner, October 2018. In-
teer help, we planted 4,000 endemic trees tergenerational Transmission of
and understory plants to restore the land Trauma, World Psychiatry,
and fulfil my dream of creating a wildlife www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ pmc/arti-
sanctuary. Yet when I found out the tragic cles/PMC6127768/.
history of that awe-inspiring place, my per- 3. M. Wolynn, 2017. It Didn’t Start with
ception changed. We discovered the re- You. NY: Penguin.
mains of the Sod Hut, the place where 4. S. Rinpoche, 1992. The Tibetan Book of
George Augustus Robinson met the Living and Dying. London: Rider.
Nuenone tribe in 1829 and began his so- 5. When I arrived in Australia, I discovered
called “Friendly Mission” that led to the that Sogyal Rinpoche (1947–2019) had
genocide of nearly all Tasmanian Aborigi- a long history of sexual predation, set-
nal people. tled rape cases out of court, was violent,
My sculptures became more shamanic, misused charitable funds, and watched
purchase of “Blackstone,” much to the and my bird paintings morphed into trau- pornography with senior students who
shock of my partner. matized “Angels of History” [22]. I painted condoned his hypocritical actions as
I intended it to be a holiday house, but with pigments I made from native plants “cultural difference” see http://howdidi-
within a year, we moved there full-time. I and wood ash, the latter being in plentiful thappen.org /history-abuse-allegations-
collected water-polished black stones, supply after the neighboring grazier tried rigpa/.
shells, feathers, and driftwood along the to burn us out when I complained about his 6. G. Deleuze and F. Guattari, 1987, pp.
shoreline, and put water bowls for wildlife shooting wallabies on our land. 492–500. A Thousand Plateaus. Minne-
outside my studio shed where on still days After the birth of my only grandchild in apolis: Univ. of Minnesota.
I could hear dolphins passing. I wrote and 2009, my desire to spend more time in 7. M. Merleau-Ponty,1962, p. 315. Phe-
illustrated books of my poetry and cele- England became overwhelming. My nomenology of Perception. London:
brated the birdlife in paintings and sculp- mother died that same year, and with her Routledge.
tures. inheritance I bought a house in a 400-acre 8. Ibid., p. 127.
Yet there were many challenges. There country park near my son so that we could 9. D. Abram, 1996, p. 68. The Spell of the
was toxic small-mindedness and environ- spend six months in each place. I thought Sensuous. NY: Pantheon.
mental corruption on the island, and Black- that it was a perfect and “fair” solution. Be- 10. Ibid., p. 69.
stone’s isolation frequently made it feel ing less than a minute walk from three 11. J. Mitchell, 1970. Big Yellow Taxi,
like a pressure cooker. We relied on wind lakes filled with waterbirds and frequent from her album, Ladies of the Canyon.
trips to Europe made the transition easy for 12. L. Wittgenstein, 1921. Philosophical
both my partner and me. Investigations; quoted in J. Elderfield,
I created another profusely flowering se- 2001 pp. 11–12. A Change of Aspect, in
cret garden, had a roof raised to make a Bridget Riley: Reconnaissance. NY: Dia
large art studio, and color returned to my Center for the Arts.
painting [image, front page]. I felt content. 13. Ibid., p. 53.
But in 2018, at Blackstone, the train finally 14. C. Greenberg, 1986, p. 19. Clement
crashed. I returned alone to live in Eng- Greenberg: The Collected Essays and
land, grieving for the loss of a place and Criticism, Vol. 3, Affirmations and Re-
wildlife that I loved, and furious because fusals: 1950–1956, J. O’Brian, ed., Chi-
my partner unexpectedly ended our 25- cago: Univ. of Chicago Press.
year marriage. 15. M. Merleau-Ponty, 1964, pp. 165–66.
Slowly, with the help of my family, gar- Eye and Mind, in The Primacy of Per-
den, art practice, and journal, I began put- ception and Other Essays on Phenome-
ting myself back together, hopefully now nological Psychology, the Philosophy of
with more discernment. The north of Eng- Arts, History, and Politics. Evanston:
land will never be a utopia, but in the cen- Northwestern Univ. Press.
ter of Australia, I discovered the relation- 16. Deleuze and Guattari, p. 493 [see note
ship of kinfolk and country. 6].
17. www.nma.gov.au/audio/uncatego-
Notes rised/mutukayi-motor-cars-and-pa-
1. O. Wilde, 1891. The Soul of Man Under punya-painting/transcripts/mutukayi-

30
 motor-cars-and-papunya-painting. 20. P. Carte, 2000, p. 255. The Enigma of p. 26: Barbara Weir and her mother Minnie
18. Acrylic painting was first introduced at a Homeland Place: Mobilising the Pa- Pwerle collecting bush tucker.
Papunya in 1971 by Geoffrey Bardon, a punya Tula Painting Movement, in Pa- p. 27: Yam Flowers by Emily Kngwarreye,
schoolteacher who recognized the peo- punya Tula: Genesis and Genius, H. Per- acrylic on canvas, 133 x 63 cm.
ple’s disempowerment and grief at being kins and H. Fink, eds., Sydney: p. 28: Anna Petyarre Price drawing the
displaced from their ancestral lands. AGNSW. Italics are mine. lines of her Yam Dreaming awelye in the
Acrylics were introduced to the people 21. S. Sontag, 2003, p. 7. Regarding the sand.
of Utopia in 1988 by a Sydney art dealer. Pain of Others. London: Hamish Hamil- p. 29: Gloria Petyarre painting her Grass
19. Psychologist and Holocaust survivor ton. Dreaming.
Dori Laub recognized that “The listener 22. www.victoria-king.com/angel-of-his- p. 29: Gloria Petyarre, Violet Petyarre, and
to trauma comes to be a participant and tory. Glory Ngale hunting perentie lizards at
co-owner of the traumatic event: through Utopia.
his very listening, he comes to partially Image Captions [all photographs by p. 29: Minnie Pwerle, mother of Barbara
experience trauma in himself.” See D. Victoria King] Weir, painting her Bush Melon Dream-
Laub, 1991 p. 7, No One Bears Witness p. 1: Floating World, Victoria King, oil on ing awelye.
to the Witness, in Testimony: Crises of canvas, 40 x 40 cm. p. 30: Driftwood shorebird, Victoria King.
Witnessing in Literature, Psychoanaly- p. 25: My Mother’s Country, Barbara Weir, p. 30: Angel of History II, Victoria King,
sis, and History. S. Felman, and D. acrylic on canvas, 120 x 38 cm. natural pigments on board, 99 x 66 cm.
Laub, eds., NY: Routledge.

31
Questions relating to environmental and architectural phenomenology (from EAP, 2014 [vol. 25, no. 3, p. 4])
Questions relating to phenomenology ▪ Can there be a phenomenology of the two ▪ What are the most pertinent environmental
and related interpretive approaches laws of thermodynamics, especially the sec- and architectural features contributing to a
and methods: ond law claiming that all activities, left to lifeworld’s being one way rather than an-
▪ What is phenomenology and what does it of- their own devices, tend toward greater disor- other?
fer to whom? der and fewer possibilities? Are there ways ▪ What role will cyberspace and digital tech-
▪ What is the state of phenomenological re- whereby phenomenological understanding of nologies have in 21st-century lifeworlds?
search today? What are your hopes and con- lifeworld might help to reduce the accelerat- How will they play a role in shaping de-
cerns regarding phenomenology? ing disordering of natural and human signed environments, particularly architec-
▪ Does phenomenology continue to have rele- worlds? ture?
vance in examining human experience in re- ▪ What impact will digital advances and vir-
lation to world? Questions relating to place, place ex- tual realities have on physical embodiment,
▪ Are there various conceptual and methodo- perience, and place meaning: architectural design, and real-world places?
logical modes of phenomenology and, if so, ▪ Why has the theme of place become an im- Will virtual reality eventually be able to sim-
how can they be categorized and described? portant phenomenological topic? ulate “real reality” entirely? If so, how does
▪ Has phenomenological research been super- ▪ Can a phenomenological understanding of such a development transform the nature of
seded by other conceptual approaches—e.g., place contribute to better place making? lifeworld, natural attitude, place, and archi-
post-structuralism, social-constructionism, ▪ Can phenomenology contribute to a genera- tecture?
critical theory, relationalist and non-repre- tive understanding of place and place mak- ▪ Can virtual worlds become so “real” that
sentational perspectives, the various concep- ing? they are lived as “real” worlds?
tual “turns,” and so forth? ▪ What roles do bodily regularity and habitual
▪ Can phenomenology contribute to making a inertia play in the constitution of place and Other potential questions:
better world? If so, what are the most crucial place experience? ▪ What is the lived relationship between
phenomena and topics to be explored phe- ▪ What are the lived relationships between people and the worlds in which they find
nomenologically? place, sustainability, and a responsive envi- themselves?
▪ Can phenomenological research offer practi- ronmental ethic? ▪ Can lifeworlds be made to happen self-con-
cal results in terms of design, planning, pol- ▪ How are phenomenological accounts to re- sciously? If so, how? Through what individ-
icy, and advocacy? spond to post-structural interpretations of ual efforts? Through what group efforts?
▪ How might phenomenological insights be space and place as rhizomic and a “mesh- ▪ Can a phenomenological education in life-
broadcast in non-typical academic ways— work of paths” (Ingold)? world, place, and environmental embodi-
e.g., through artistic expression, theatrical ▪ Can phenomenological accounts incorporate ment assist citizens and professionals in bet-
presentation, digital evocation, virtual reali- a “progressive sense of place” argued for by ter understanding the workings and needs of
ties, and so forth? critical theorists like Doreen Massey? real-world places and thereby contribute to
▪ What are the most important aims for future ▪ Can phenomenological explications of space their envisioning and making?
phenomenological research? and place account for human differences— ▪ Is it possible to speak of human-rights-in-
▪ Do the various post-structural and social- gender, sexuality, less-abledness, social place or place justice? If so, would such a
constructionist criticisms of phenomenol- class, cultural background, and so forth? possibility move attention and supportive ef-
ogy—that it is essentialist, masculinist, au- ▪ Can phenomenology contribute to the poli- forts toward improving the places in which
thoritative, voluntarist, ignorant of power tics and ideology of place? people and other living beings find them-
structures, and so forth—point toward its de- ▪ Can a phenomenological understanding of selves, rather than focusing only on the
mise? lived embodiment and habitual inertia be rights and needs of individuals and groups
drawn upon to facilitate robust places and to without consideration of their place context?
generate mutual support and awareness
Questions relating to the natural among places, especially places that are con- Questions relating to Covid-19:
world and environmental and ecologi- siderably different (e.g., different ethnic ▪ Will demands of Covid-19 have a lasting im-
cal concerns: neighborhoods or regions)? pact on physical places and bodily sociality?
▪ Can there be a phenomenology of nature and ▪ Can phenomenology contribute to mobility, ▪ Can social media and virtual realities effec-
the natural world? the nature of “flows,” rhizomic spaces, the tively replace face-to-face presence and
▪ What can phenomenology offer the intensi- places of mobility, non-spaces and their rela- physical places?
fying environmental and ecological crises we tionship to mobility and movement? ▪ Will human beings return to physical place
face today? and firsthand intercorporeality once the pan-
▪ Can phenomenology contribute to more sus- Questions relating to architecture and demic ends?
tainable actions and worlds? environmental design and policy: ▪ Can human life really survive if people lose
▪ Can one speak of a sustainable lifeworld? ▪ Can there be a phenomenology of architec- their direct lived relationships with other hu-
▪ What is a phenomenology of a lived environ- ture and architectural experience and mean- man beings and an entrenched physical in-
mental ethic and who are the key contribu- ing? volvement in real-world places?
tors? ▪ Can phenomenology contribute to better ar- ▪ Does the crisis of Covid-19 demonstrate the
▪ Do the “sacred” and the “holy” have a role in chitectural design? central phenomenological principle that hu-
caring for the natural world? For places? For ▪ How do qualities of the designable world— man beings-are-inured-in place? If that in-
lifeworlds broadly? spatiality, materiality, lived aesthetics, envi- urement collapses, is human life at risk?
▪ Can phenomenology contribute to environ- ronmental embodiment etc.—contribute to
mental education? If so, in what ways? lifeworlds?

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 Environmental & Architectural
Phenomenology
Published digitally twice a year, EAP is a forum and clearing house Beginning in 2016, EAP is digitally open-source only. Current and
for research and design that incorporate a qualitative approach to back digital issues of EAP are available at the following digital ad-
environmental and architectural experience, actions, and mean- dresses:
ings.
https://ksu.academia.edu/DavidSeamon
One key concern of EAP is design, education, policy, and advocacy http://newprairiepress.org/eap/
supporting and strengthening natural and built places that sustain http://krex.k-state.edu/dspace/handle/2097/1522 (archive cop-
human and environmental wellbeing. Realizing that a clear con- ies)
ceptual stance is integral to informed research and design, the edi-
tor emphasizes phenomenological approaches but also gives atten- Readers who wish to receive an email notice when a new issue is
tion to related styles of qualitative research. EAP welcomes essays, electronically available, should send an email to the editor with
letters, reviews, conference information, and so forth. Forward sub- that request. Though EAP is now digital, we still have production
missions to the editor. costs and welcome reader donations.

Editor Because EAP is now only digital, we have discontinued library sub-
scriptions. Libraries that wish to remain subscribed should link
Dr. David Seamon, Professor Emeritus their digital catalogue to the archival digital address provided
Architecture Department above. A limited number of back issues of EAP, in hard copy,
Kansas State University 1990–2015, are available for $10/volume (3 issues/volume). Con-
300 South Delaware Avenue, Manhattan, KS 66502 USA tact the editor for details.
tel: 785-317-2124; [email protected]

Exemplary Themes Copyright Notice

All contents of EAP, including essays by contributors, are protected
▪ The nature of environmental and architectural experience;
by copyright and/or related rights. Individual contributors retain
▪ Sense of place, including place identity and place attachment;
copyright to their essays and accompanying materials. Interested
▪ Architectural and landscape meaning;
parties should contact contributors for permission to reproduce or
▪ The environmental, architectural, spatial, and material dimen-
draw from their work.
sions of lifeworlds;
▪
Open Access Policy
Changing conceptions of space, place, and nature;
▪ Home, dwelling, journey, and mobility;
▪ Environmental encounter and its relation to environmental re- EAP provides immediate access to its content on the principle that
sponsibility and action; making research freely available to the public supports a greater
▪ Environmental and architectural atmospheres and ambiences; global exchange of knowledge.
▪ Environmental design as place making;
▪ Sacred space, landscape, and architecture; Archival Policy
▪ The role of everyday things—furnishings, tools, clothing, in- EAP is archived for perpetual access through the participation of
terior design, landscape features, and so forth—in supporting Kansas State University’s New Prairie Press in CLOCKSS (“Con-
people’s sense of environmental wellbeing; trolled Lots of Copies Keep Stuff Safe”) and Portico, managed
▪ The progressive impact of virtual reality on human life and through the Digital Commons Publishing platform. New Prairie
how it might transform the lived nature of “real” places, build- Press also participates in LOCKSS (Lots of Copies Keep Stuff
ings, and lifeworlds; Safe). Once published, an issue’s contents are never changed. Ar-
▪ The practice of a lived environmental ethic. chival copies of EAP are also available at Kansas State Univer-
sity’s digital archive, K-Rex (see links above).
For additional themes and topics, see the preceding page, which
outlines a series of relevant questions originally published in the Note: All entries for which no author is given are by the EAP Edi-
25th-anniversary issue of EAP in 2014 (vol. 25, no. 3, p. 4). tor.

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