Leah Kim

Chapter 4: Working with Place - Tim Creswell (p.81-123)

2008-12-03T03:58:00.001-08:00

ch.2 - history + human geography

ch.3 - place + nature + globalization

ch.4 - how concept is utilized in research (creation of meaning in place and moral geographies based on creation)

Chapter 4 summarizes the way we identify a place. It begins with the "production of place." The creation of a place is generalized through everyday activities. Creswell divides the research aspect of a place into four different categories - (moblie and globalized world, memory, place-identities, and larger scales of the region - pg. 82).

First, in the mobile and globalized world, Creswell takes us back to the notion of a place being home (Tuan). The idea of "home" tells us that a place can be created based on one's unique analysis and his or relation to the place. The experience that one holds carries different meaning from another of a particular place (the experience maybe based on the idea of 'cultural ecology').

Creswell continues to explain place based on memory of a place. Memories begin to form through a place and its production. The way an individual perceives (in terms of ways of knowing - through sight, sound, smell...etc of the place -pg.85) the place will be different from another because their dislikes and likes would not be the same. Thus, everyone's experience would also be different, which will establish different perspectives of a place.

(It was interesting to see how the place of the nazi concentration camp was mentioned. I did not quite understand the whole passage and its relation to place. So far, this whole book discussed regarding different experiences that people have at a particular place. This example was perfect in comparing the two complete opposite views of a place. The nazi officials who held the camp, and the jewish people who were involved. Both groups used same place, however, one experienced order and the other experienced chaos. Clearly, people who were involved in this nazi concentration camp would recall their memories to define the place.

Chapter 3: Reading 'A Global Sense of Place' Tim Creswell (p.53-79)

2008-10-20T12:43:00.001-07:00

Chapter 3 refers to Massey's A Global Sense of Place at the beginning to address Massey's belief of existence of a diverse culture in one place. Massey believes that place is rapidly changing and becoming less "unique" through growth of globalization. She introduces the idea of homogenization, which suggests a diverse community formed in one region.

Throughout, Creswell mentions how the uniqueness of such a place is evolving through social constructions- and introduces the idea of "gated communities."

Harvey:"gated communities" is further discussed. Its purpose is to protect a community in a secured place with a wall around them.

Chapter 2: The Genealogy of Place - Tim Creswell (p.33-51)

2008-10-20T12:42:00.001-07:00

The second part of chapter 2 focuses on the phenomenology of the place. (the philosophical investigation and description of conscious experience in all its varieties without reference to the question of whether what is experienced is objectively real-how things are perceived, the nature of things as they are - I had hard time understanding phenomenology; def was found from the dictionary)

David Seamon: one's movement in space can determine space. Seamon stresses the idea of daily movement/actions creating a sense of place. When one moves from one place to another in a space, two places are different because the behavior of one's movement can be described as his or her "habit." He introduces the idea of "body-ballet," which is a "time space routine," a path that one performs consistently each day (34) - (I thought this was very interesting-I never thought of it, but my daily routine is almost similar each day. From the time I spend getting ready to go to my first class until the time I return home from school, my schedule is very similar each day) . Allan Pred believes in the development of place. He believes that place continuously change; therefore, place cannot be set or be fixed to a same idea. Creswell also introduces the idea of "structures" of place. Structurationists exist to set rules for a place, and structures exist to create a certain limit to a place, and there may be other rules based on social regulations; However, these rules can be broken based on how one would react to it. If set rules did not exist, there would be meaningless actions to the place. (This is very true- It's fascinating to consider the idea of "breaking the rules"... I think vibe exists because of how we react to how the place is built, organized, or developed-We break the rules to make ourselves comfortable to be in that particular place).

Three different types of places are introduced (pg38):

1)Measurable and mappable - spatial outcome

2)conception (conceived) - subjective and imagined

3)lived space - different way of thinking

(I think the thirdspace, lived space, summarizes the two other spaces because we perceive both types to get to the thirdplace. We see, observe the physical domain of the place, then we instantly consider our own vision of the place, then we finalize the idea of to determine the place of the space)

I was really glad to see the conclusion at the end. I was lost most of the time. with so many descriptions of place, I kept referring to some questions I had throughout the whole chapter- "so what is a definition? is there a fixed phrase that explains what place is? how many definitions are there?" so in his conclusion, he lists three ways that a place can be observed...

(pg.51)

three approaches

1)descriptive

2)social constructionist

3)phenomenological

I think this is very similar to Lefebvre's three kinds of spaces. As Creswell stated, there's definitely an overlap among these approaches because one approach lead to the next while observing a place. However, of the three, I believe the "phenomenological approach" to be the most intriguing because it's really about one's relation to the place.

Chapter 2: The Genealogy of Place - Tim Creswell (p.15-33)

2008-09-29T12:24:00.000-07:00

Chapter 2 describes place as an object, that can be observed or examined, but it also emphasizes how place is considered to be the way of looking at an object. Place can be determined through defining its existence or be determined by the ways of seeing how the place has developed. Various hypotheses can lead to define a place, which denotes that place is not something to be researched, but it's something that helps us to develop our own "way" of seeing and researching different components to a specific place.

In regional geography, the regional geographers must describe a place or a region with detail - from the basic observation of soil to the culture of the place. An important term is introduced at this point, 'chorology,' which refers to the study of regions/places (15). In the introduction, Creswell also states that a place is "deeply metaphysical," which he touches upon throughout the pages by defining places as study of its nature of being.

To enhance the way of defining a place or a region, Creswell introduces the idea of "la geographie humaine" which looked at both nature and human acting together to define a place. To advance the idea of la geographie humaine, Creswell distinguishes two ideas that are derived from geographers Semple, Huntingdon, Sauer, and de la Blache. While Semple and Huntingdon believe in the idea of environmental necessities shaping our culture, Sauer and de la Blache reject this generalization. Instead, Sauer and de la Blache focus on the transformation of natural environment through "the ways cultural groups affect and change the natural habitats." To clarify this message, Sauer and Blache basically believe that the culture is developed from how the groups change the existing environment. They do not think the natural force of the environment can form the culture.

Humanistic Geography is also discussed throughout the chapter. Creswell introduces various geographers to present various perspectives of a place. For example, Lukerman believs that place is determined by juxtaposition of nature and culture; Relph is against the idea of geography as a spatial science and defines place to be a concept of a "way of being," Tuan distinguishes space and place by describing space as an area of movement and place as an area of stillness. Tuan also states that place is determined by bond between the place and the people, which he calls topophilia. Relph concentrates on the value- how people belonging to a place shows the value of the place.

After introducing various explanations of place claimed by different geographers, Creswell presents the concept of 'place as home.' Home here, described by Creswell, is a "center" of meaning (24) and human existence. It is the primary place for people and it is dissimilar based on people's experiences and their connection to the place. Creswell not only concentrates on the private value of a place, but he also continues on by seeing the value of place through a larger context. He introduces the idea of developing a place based on the social construction of the place - place can also be constructed based on race, politics, culture, and other variables.

I always considered place to be just a place. I never thought of a meaning of the "places" I go to.

For example, I live in a single apartment and three of my friends also live in this apt complex. The rooms are exactly the same, positioned in a same manner. However, the "feel" of the room is different. Even if they look the same, I feel uncomfortable at my friends' places because I am not attached to their places. It's all about how you develop a place based on your experiences of the place, your own beliefs, and your cultural backgrounds.

Chapter 1: Defining Place - Tim Creswell (p.1-14)

2008-09-21T22:40:00.001-07:00

I never considered "place" as such an important subject. I just defined "place" as geographical location or where we "exist" in this society. The reading from chapter 1 made me realize that "place" is more about an ownership and a relationship between human and "space."

I thought it was interesting to define place as three different categories: location, locale, and sense of place (by John Agnew). Place as location defines a place to be a particular location, and includes that place does not have to be stationary. Second, place as locale describes place as "material setting for social relations," which shows how people interpret or represent their style or their vision of a space through different arrangements of contents contained in a space.

Third, place as sense of place requires us to "feel" the sense of a particular place (one can vision or imagine what the place feels like).

As Cresswell mentions at the beginning of the chapter, the word, "place" is something that we hear everyday. I never placed a specific meaning to how I see "place." (I just realized that I used "place" as a verb when I'm really referring to how I define place as a location... so what's the difference between using "place" as a verb or a noun?... I guess using it as a noun defines a personal space where using it as a verb depicts a position of something) I defined a place to be a territory or a landscape but now that I've read Cresswell's point of view, place really is everywhere. As he defines it, place is an "everyday encounter."

I also thought distinction between "space" and "place" was interesting. After reading the passage, I read the subtitle again - "space" gave me a sense of emptiness and a sense of structural system. In contrast, "place" made me to consider the value of a space.

Overall, the whole passage helped me to realize that place is not just about a location, it's really about understanding how a space becomes a place. Through the process of constructing a place from a structural space, specific meanings are applied. It's important to recognize the historical value of place rather than just seeing the place as an existing area.

Response reading: Daniel Chandler

2008-09-03T13:48:00.000-07:00

Semiotics

The article, “Semiotics for Beginners,” Daniel Chandler discusses meaning of signs. Chandler states that “signs are considered as images, words, sounds, odours, flavours, acts, objects.” But the meaning of the sign is the result of the communication between the object or the subject and the interpretation of the form.

Chandler describes the sign by referring to Saussure’s model. The model shows the interpretation of a sign by showing the association of the signifier and the signified of a sign. A sign is analyzed by these two terms where the signifier denotes the form and the signified denotes the concept. The important notion to keep in mind is that the concept refers to the process of thinking what the form may be representing.

While Saussure argues signifier as a form and signified as a concept, Langer and Louis Hjelmslev interpret those terms a little differently. Langer believes that linguistic signs show sound vs. thought (signifier and signified: relatively), and Hjelmslev believes that signs show expression vs. content (signifier and signified: relatively)

Throughout the article, Chandler also describes Saussure’s design being “structural and relational,” rather that referential. This means the idea of signifier and signified just shows the relationship of concept and the form rather than depicting what the subject/object is. Therefore, from a one “signifier,” there could be more than one interpretations of “signified.” While Saussure believes that his model is not referential, Pierce believes that symbol or a sign are “interpreted as referring to an object.”

Regardless of what the exact definition of a sign may be, this shows us that more than one visual interpretation of a sign (anything that has a meaning) may be possible because people have different perspectives.

Denotation and Connotation

I got even more confused distinguishing the difference between denotation and connotation after reading the article. Chandler additionally describes the idea of semiotics by explaining the two types of signified: denotative and connotative. Signified are divided into two different parts because meanings may be perceived in various ways. Denotation is a literal meaning; it is a definition of a form. Connotation is more personal; it is an application of emotions, personal connection, and an involvement of a form.

Connotations and denotations may be dependent because connotation is additional information that is added to denotation. Chandler describes that it’s an “illusion” of denotation.