Global Dynamic Landscapes: Nature, Culture, and the Pilgrim’s Body
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| Year of publication | 2022 |
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| Description | In the last decades, the notion of landscape has been increasingly investigated within the fields of cultural geography and visual studies. Its understanding has been, however, often linked either to the representations of landscape only, or to its metaphorical understanding especially developed by the seminal research by Veronica Della Dora. With my research group, we developed an understanding of landscape as a polysensorial experience where the gaze is supplemented by the other senses, including changes of temperature sensible on the skin, the sounds of trees and bells in the distance, or the taste of sweat produced by the tired body. Furthermore, the body itself has been considered as an instrument to better understand the role of the landscape in the perception of cultural monuments. This is true for biological reasons – endorphins, adrenaline, and other hormones are affecting our perception – as well as for cultural aspects inherent to premodern cultures. It is important to remind that all measurements in the premodern world are based on parts of the body: feet, hands, and thumbs are used to create a human-centered order in the understanding of the space. Such practice is transforming the natural environment in a true Anthropocene. On the basis of selected case studies stemming from Conques, Milan, but also Western Asia, the goal of this paper is to propose a general pattern to read the cultural landscape through the body of pilgrims. With a focus on early medieval monuments and texts, it wishes to promote a new framework for the understanding of both premodern “landscape” and its role in the construction of the human experience of culture. |
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