Metaphorical images of nature. Nature as an object and as a subject.

1. HUMOV1003 Community
and Bush Environments
Seminar eleven
Ways of knowing nature

2. Head, heart and hands overlap but have contributing
uniqueness.

3. Public knowledge
– that which is potentially open to all.
Private knowledge
– that to which only you have access.

4. Scientific knowledge
information, hypothesis about a place,
which have been derived from careful
study of natural or other phenomena.

5. Cultural knowledge
information about the history or ‘story’ of a
place which you may have heard or gained
but which is not principally derived from
careful scientific study.

6. Experiential knowledge
information you have gained by living with
a place.

7. These types of knowledge
are valued and used
variously within our society.

8. Enviro life history -
retrospective (Chawla)
(emotional connections)
1. Childhood experiences of nature
2. Experiences of enviro loss or destruction
3. Pro-enviro values of family

9. Enviro life history -
retrospective (Chawla)
(emotional connections)
4. Pro-enviro organisations
5. Role models (friends, teachers)
6. Education

10. Nature is the
material world
– everything is of, or from, nature
(including humans and all their works…).
Nature as
wilderness
(separate from people and culture).
Nature as the
natural order of
things
(Naturally so…the laws of nature
excludes humans and culture).
What things are
made of – their
nature
The nature of rock is hard, his nature is
caring etc etc.
Nature – 4 meanings

11. But – humans have more power than
nature now, so boom bust cycle is
disrupted?
Sustainability, then must be brain driven
from an emotional response (foresight).

12. Connections with nature vary
with:
Place
Activity
Weather
Level of technology available
NR scale

13. Structural development theory for HNR
- based on maturation of moral reasoning
Integrated with Nature
Caring for Nature
Travelling through
Nature
Alienated from Nature
Everyday nature caring behaviour.
Connectedness and caring for the bush.
The importance and awareness of nature
in a person’s life.
Levels of comfort outdoors
Experiences and time in nature
Positive disposition towards nature

14. How do you get to know a
friend?

15. Relationship with individual
Initial attraction/aesthetic. Positive experience.
Builds over time with the same person.
Grows with increasing trust. Comfort, non-
threatening.
Emotional bond initially.
Information from stories of other lived experiences?
Recognition of the other person.
Receptive to what the other has to communicate.
Displacement of self-interest to the other.

16. Knowing nature is similar to
knowing a person –
has many implications for
the practice of OEE

17. Relationship with place
Initial attraction/aesthetic. Positive experience.
Builds over time with the same entity.
Grows with increasing trust for safety. Comfort,
non-threatening. Skills to be outdoors.
Emotional bond initially.
Information from stories of other lived experiences?
Recognition of the Other in nature.
Receptive to what the Other has to communicate.
Displacement of self-interest to the other.

18. but…what other views
exist?

19. Anthropocentric
= human centred view
Biocentric
= non-human centred view
(ecocentric)

20. We are, after all, human!

21. Knowing nature as a friend is a
biocentric view in that it attempts
to develop a ‘subject to subject’
view of non-human nature.
It helps acknowledge non-human
nature as having intrinsic ‘rights’ (like
people).

22. Nature as object or subject?
“subject” implies emotions, human-ness,
consciousness(????)! = intrinsic rights for its
own wellbeing.
“object” implies inert-ness, a thing without
rights, an ‘instrument’. (An object could be
an artifact?)

23. Nature as Friend
• Implies:
– A relationship with a subjective other
(emotional)
– Based on lived personal experiences with
other.
– Closeness but separate (a relationship with)
– Co-operative and caring outcomes sought
– Developmental – grows or diminishes

24. Language indicating “subject”
Country in Aboriginal English is not only a common noun
but also a proper noun. People talk about Country in the
same way that they would talk about a person: they speak
to Country, sing to Country visit Country, worry about
Country, feel for Country, and long for Country.
People say that Country hears, smells, takes notice, takes
care, is sorry or happy. ... Country is a living entity with a
yesterday, today and tomorrow, with a consciousness, and
will toward life.
(Rose 1996, p.7)

25. "people never used to go just hunting
especially, they used to go walking around
and see what might happen. They walked
for their energy, or to make their body feel
good, or to brighten their spirit, just walking
around on Country." pg. 150
Iwenhe Tyrerrtye – on what it means to be an aboriginal person.
Margret Kemarre Turner IAD Press 2010

26. Language indicating
relatedness?
“Yeah sometimes when I’m climbing I look at the cliff - if
you think of it like you’re a fighter and the cliff is your
opponent and you get to the top without falling then you
have pretty much got a knockout - if you have got to the top
with a few falls well you’ve taken a few blows during the
rounds - and sometimes if you retreat off a climb it keeps
on haunting you, like if you lose a fight then you want to
come back and do it again another time until you win.”

27. Language indicating
relatedness?
[Could you use that metaphor with your surfing - if you fall off or get dumped is
that the same?]
“Umm not really I don’t take offence to it when I’m
surfing. I surf for different goals as well. When I
climb it’s me and the mountain and I’m trying to get
to the top and when I surf it’s me and the wave but
I’m not trying to overpower it and become the best
surfer in the world. I’m just out there to relax
basically and get away from everything.”

28. A summary of conceptions of the human-to-nature relationship (Martin, 2009)

29. Metaphorical images
Nature as a:?

30. Metaphorical images as a
guide to human nature
relationships
A metaphor is not a reality – but
then reality isn’t real either!
(Multiple constructed realities)

31. Metaphorical images
Because language is metaphorical and also
imaginary, words are imbedded with
assumed behaviours and values.
http://theliterarylink.com/metaphors.html
(link on Moodle, or scan => )

32. Language and metaphors
Make a list of UP words!
Make a list of DOWN words.

33. Museum
&
Resource
store
Cathedral
Close Friend
Part of self
Nature as
an object
Nature as
a subject
Playground
&
Gymnasium
Perspectives of Nature
(Martin 1996)

34. Spending time in more natural settings, in small
groups, for several days, mindful of
equipment and activity, CAN lead to new
perspectives of yourself, others and the natural
world