Converging Concepts of Landscape: Space and Place in 19th-century Northwest Lower Michigan

Summary

The same landscape in the same moment can be experienced differently by people as they project culture and history onto the landscape. Using two juxtaposed perspectives of landscape in the same geographic location and time, this research compares and contrasts Cartographers and Native Americans in Northwest Lower Michigan following intensification of mapping after 1837. Using historic documents, vivifacts (living artifacts), and maps, this analysis presents the conflicting landscape concepts of cartographers who demarcated land for allotment and Native Americans who continued a mobile lifestyle with nonpermanent settlements and fluid boundaries. Following examination of the cartographic "Western gaze", this analysis examines Native concepts of landscape as an interwoven combination of nature, culture, religion, and belief. In concluding, this research asserts a need for the incorporation of place in the analysis of landscapes in order to move away from Cartesian space and time based understandings. 

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Native American Cultural Landscapes and Community Collaborations   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2018

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 903