Speaker: Chris Limburg, UW Department of Geography
Abstract: Place is more complex than we think it is. Places--so often taken for granted--shape our environment, society, and imagination. This talk will elaborate the ways that we think about places. It will address questions like: what is a place, exactly? How does thinking about places help us understand our world? And: isn't place just a location in inert space? In answering these questions, I will argue for the importance of using place as a lens as well as a site. Examining place epistemologically and ontologically, this talk will demonstrate the usefulness of thinking geographically about our fragmented relationship with the environment. With a deeper sense of place we can engage environment, society, and self as emergent despite their seeming fixity. The talk will first outline the debates concerning the nature of place in geography. Then it will use the example of naga nature spirits in the Kathmandu valley to illustrate the complexity of place.