“[T]he Pima of Central Arizona have historically embedded in their landscape the stories, histories, and lessons of their way of life and culture. Thus, the Pima, when they wish to remind someone of their past, or of a lesson they would like that person to remember, make what seem to white people abstract references to locations on their territory, such as ‘Trail Goes Down between Two Hills.’ The target of their comments, however, will know what they mean.”
– Matthew Barlow, Griffintown: Memory and Identity in an Irish Diaspora Neighbourhood, 11
Historian Matthew Barlow here cites the work of anthropologist Keith Basso on how memory can be embedded in a landscape to explain how the Irish-Catholic population of Montreal imbued the working-class neighborhood of Griffintown with meanings important to their identity as Irish-Canadians, such that even after the neighborhood was redeveloped, Irish-Montrealers could invoke generations worth of memories by reference to churches, pubs, streets, and other landmarks.
It’s a fascinating way of thinking about how we relate the landscape we live in, but, of course, the first thing I thought of was:
Image: Still from Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Darmok” via IMDb, text added by Erik Jensen
Serving exactly what it sounds like, the Quotes feature excerpts other people’s thoughts.
Co-Geeking 