HYM4130

Reading landscapes

Brigid Hains

8 or 12 points -One 2-hour seminar per week -First semester -Clayton

Objectives Students successfully completing this subject should have developed a critical understanding of what constitutes a cultural landscape and to develop methods of analysis and presentation appropriate to landscape studies. Students should be able to evaluate concepts and models of landscape history and to undertake the assessment of landscapes according to given criteria.

Synopsis Landscape is sometimes only a scenic backdrop to history: in this subject landscape and the environment take centre stage. Students will be introduced to a range of approaches to the history of natural and cultural landscapes, including the history of wilderness; the heroic American landscape; colonial desires to remake the Australian landscape; and the history of landscape conservation. Fieldwork is an integral element of the subject, and students will be introduced to methods of assessing the cultural significance of landscape within a heritage framework..

Assessment (8 points): Seminar paper (1000 words): 20% -Fieldwork exercise (2000 words): 30% -Essay (3000 words): 50%
Assessment (12 points) Seminar paper (1000 words): 10% -Fieldwork exercise (3000 words): 30% -Essay (5000 words): 60%

Recommended texts

Cronon W Changes in the land: Indians, colonists and the ecology of New England Hill and Wang, 1983
Davison G and others The cream brick frontier: Histories of Australian suburbia Monash University, 1995
Flannery T The Future eaters Reed, 1994
Griffiths T Hunters and collectors: The antiquarian imagination in Australia CUP, 1996
Jeans D N and Spearritt P The open air museum: The cultural landscape of New South Wales Allen and Unwin,1995
Lowenthal D Landscape meanings and values Allen and Unwin,1986
Schama S Landscape and memory Harper-Collins, 1995
Seddon G Landprints CUP, 1997

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