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![Tree Symbolism in Anthropology
“…Trees are used symbolically to
make concrete and material the
abstract notion of life [and are]
… ideal supports for such
symbolic purpose precisely
because their status as living
organisms is ambiguous.”
Laura Rival- The Social Life of Trees](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/tidball-need-basedgivingdisaster16jan2015-150116164717-conversion-gate02/85/Tidball-need-based-giving-disaster-16jan2015-10-320.jpg)
![Resilience is…
• Explanations for the source and role of
change in adaptive systems, particularly
the kinds of change that are transforming.
• Focused on social-ecological systems –
not simply linked or coupled systems of
people and nature, people IN nature
• Found at multiple scales, from the scale
of a farm or village, through communities,
regions, and nations to the globe.
Resilience - the ability to absorb disturbances, to be changed and then to re-organize
and still have the same identity. It includes the ability to learn from the disturbance.
Walker, B., C. S. Holling, S. R. Carpenter, and A. Kinzig. 2004. Resilience, adaptability and transformability in social–ecological systems. Ecology and Society 9(2): 5. [online] URL:
http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol9/iss2/art5](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/tidball-need-basedgivingdisaster16jan2015-150116164717-conversion-gate02/85/Tidball-need-based-giving-disaster-16jan2015-16-320.jpg)
Uploaded byKeith G. Tidball
Tidball need-based giving & disaster 16jan2015
This document summarizes a workshop on applying need-based transfers to large-scale problems like disasters. It discusses Keith Tidball's presentation on trees as symbols of resilience, rebirth and community recovery efforts after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. Tidball talked about how trees provided ecosystem services before the storm, and after became symbols of regeneration and memorialization, catalyzing community restoration work and virtuous cycles in the social-ecological system.
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- 1. Need-based transfers inwater management and disaster recovery workshop Hosted by the Human Generosity Project and the Decision Center for a Desert City, Arizona State University Applying need-based transfers to pressing large-scale problems – what can we learn from disasters? Photo by David Kozlowski Keith G. Tidball, Ph.D. Department of Natural Resources Cornell University 16 JAN 2015.
- 2. Caveats & Disclaimers– what you need to know… Infantry Tidball International Affairs Tidball Academic Tidball
- 3. Trying to hangwith the cool kids… my anthro DNA Source: http://archives.wfpl.org/2008/09/04/religion-practicing-snake-handling-comes-under-scrutiny/ Tidball, K. G. and C. P. Toumey (2007). "Serpents, Sainthood, and Celebrity: Symbolic and Ritual Tensions in Appalachian Pentecostal Serpent Handling." Journal of Religion and Popular Culture 17(Fall): http://www.usask.ca/relst/jrpc/art17-serpents-print.html Tidball, K. G. and C. P. Toumey (2003). Signifying Serpents: Hermeneutic Change in Appalachian Pentecostal Serpent Handling. Signifying Serpents and Mardi Gras Runners: Representing Identity in Selected Souths. C. Ray and L. E. Lassiter. Athens, Georgia, University of Georgia Press.
- 4. The fascination withsymbols and ritual persisted…
- 6. Camp Algiers –Relief HQ NOLA Post-Katrina
- 8. Trees as SocialObjects in Anthropology “From its beginnings , anthropology has concerned itself as much with the ways in which natural processes are conceptualized and the natural world classified, as with the ways in which human societies interact with their natural environments and use natural resources.” Laura Rival- The Social Life of Trees
- 9. Trees and Rebirth: Resilience,Ritual and Symbol in Community- based Urban Reforestation Recovery Efforts in Post-Katrina New Orleans Keith G. Tidball Cornell University Department of Natural Resources American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting: Philadelphia, PA USA Dec 2009 Session: THE SOCIAL LIFE OF TREES: COMMUNITY RESILIENCE, COLLECTIVE ACTION AND ENVIRONMENTAL BEHAVIOR “Scrap House” art installation by Sally Heller. Convention Center, NOLA. Photo: Arts Council of New Orleans
- 10. Tree Symbolism inAnthropology “…Trees are used symbolically to make concrete and material the abstract notion of life [and are] … ideal supports for such symbolic purpose precisely because their status as living organisms is ambiguous.” Laura Rival- The Social Life of Trees
- 11.
- 12. http://www.chicagotribune.com/travel/chi-new-orleans-0525_r_lmvmay25,0,4086594,full.story On Tennessee Street,only trees remained after the storm. Residents now look to the trees as a symbol of their neighborhood’s endurance, and their street bustles with new construction. In fact, Tennessee offers a veritable textbook example of construction methodology. American Apartment Owners Association Newsletter http://www.american-apartment-owners- association.org/blog/2009/02/02/three-years-after- katrina-brad-pitt-still-rallies-in-new-orleans/
- 14. Tidball, K. G.(2014). "Seeing the forest for the trees: hybridity and social-ecological symbols, rituals and resilience in post-disaster contexts." Ecology and Society 19(4).
- 16. Resilience is… • Explanationsfor the source and role of change in adaptive systems, particularly the kinds of change that are transforming. • Focused on social-ecological systems – not simply linked or coupled systems of people and nature, people IN nature • Found at multiple scales, from the scale of a farm or village, through communities, regions, and nations to the globe. Resilience - the ability to absorb disturbances, to be changed and then to re-organize and still have the same identity. It includes the ability to learn from the disturbance. Walker, B., C. S. Holling, S. R. Carpenter, and A. Kinzig. 2004. Resilience, adaptability and transformability in social–ecological systems. Ecology and Society 9(2): 5. [online] URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol9/iss2/art5
- 17. “…there will besocial mechanisms behind management practices based on local ecological knowledge, as evidence of a co- evolutionary relationship between local institutions and the ecosystem in which they are located.” Berkes & Folke 1998 “…systems that demonstrate resilience appear to have learned to recognize feedback, and therefore possess mechanisms by which information from the environment can be received, processed, and interpreted.” Berkes & Folke 1998 Explore the means, or social mechanisms, that bring about the conditions needed for adaptation in the face of disturbance (eg. disaster and war) fundamental to social-ecological system resilience.
- 18. Trees Shaped Resiliencebefore and after Katrina Before • Ecosystem service provision – cooling – storm water mgmt – air quality – aesthetic & recreational values • Sense of place – Well-being – Social capital – Links to SES resilience After • Actionable restoration target • Symbol of regeneration, rebirth, resilience • Source of memory and memorialization • Basis for emergence of a Community of Practice • Catalyst for re-initiation of virtuous cycles in social- ecological system
- 19. WHAT INITIATES GREENING? UrgentBiophilia Positive Dependency Memorialization Mechanism Social-Ecological Symbols and Rituals Tidball, KG. (2012). Urgent Biophilia: Human-Nature Interactions and Biological Attractions in Disaster Resilience. Ecology and Society. 17(2). Tidball, KG & RC Stedman. (2013). Positive Dependency and Virtuous Cycles: From Resource Dependence to Resilience in Urban Social-Ecological Systems. Ecological Economics. 86(0): 292-299. Tidball, KG, ME Krasny, E Svendsen, L Campbell, & K Helphand. (2010). Stewardship, Learning, and Memory in Disaster Resilience. “Resilience in Social-Ecological Systems: the Role of Learning and Education,” Special Issue of Environmental Education Research, 16(5): 341-357. Tidball, KG (2014). Trees and Rebirth: Social-Ecological Symbols, Rituals and Resilience in Post-Katrina New Orleans. In: Tidball and Krasny, Eds., Greening in the Red Zone: Disaster, Resilience, and Community Greening. Springer publishing.
- 20. Source of Memory& Memorialization The 2002 "Restore the Oaks" art installation featured 30 local artists, each creating an original mural on the outer freeway columns to memorialize the live oak trees that once stood on either side of Claiborne Avenue. I am going to go further back (than Katrina)…We lost something…we had these big majestic oaks that city planning and everyone else saw fit to uproot. Along with those oaks we had inherited businesses. So that’s the legacy that’s lost. So, these trees (we are planting) might be a reminder of what we lost, so that we don’t ever forget it and don’t let that happen to us again, as well as kind of light a fire under us to ensure that we won’t have to worry about a legacy being lost (due to Katrina) (Treme community member and tree planter, January 19 2009).
- 21. Memorial tree examplesare familiar… Scythe Tree, Waterloo, NY From a postcard Survivor tree Nagasaki Photo by: Meghan Deutscher
- 22. Memorial tree examplesare familiar… The Oklahoma City bombing “Survivor Tree” Image from http://www.panoramio.com/photo/14637493
- 23. Memorial tree examplesare familiar… 2001 The New York City 9/11 “Survivor Tree” Spring 2009 Michael Browne/Parks Department David W. Dunlap/The New York Times
- 24. Memorial tree examplesare familiar… Saint Paul’s Chapel, NYC
- 25. Tree memorials are“Living Memorials… Because of the overwhelming desire to honor and memorialize the tragic losses that occurred on September 11, 2001 (9-11) the United States Congress asked the USDA Forest Service to create the Living Memorials Project (LMP). This initiative invokes the resonating power of trees to bring people together and create lasting, living memorials to the victims of terrorism, their families, communities, and the nation. See USDA Forest Service Living Memorials Project www.livingmemorialsproject.net
- 26. How do othersaccount for greening activities in disaster and war? LOCATION RED ZONE TYPE Afghanistan Ongoing wars in the Middle East Berlin, Germany Post-Cold War divisions Charleston, South Carolina 1989 Hurricane Hugo Cameroon and Chad Mid 2000’s civil unrest in Central Africa Cyprus Demarcation between Greek and Turkish Cyprus Europe 1940’s WW II Nazi internment camps Guatemala Ongoing post-conflict insecurity Iraq Ongoing wars in the Middle East Johannesburg, South Africa Early 2000’s Soweto, Post-Apartheid violence Kenya Early 2000’s Resource scarcity conflict Liberia 1989- 2003 civil war Madagascar Costal vulnerability New Orleans, USA 2005 Hurricane Katrina New York City, USA 2001 September 11th terrorist attacks Rotterdam, Netherlands Ongoing urban insecurity Port-au-Prince, Haiti 2010 earthquake Russia Post-Soviet Cold War urban insecurity Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina 1992-1996 conflict South Korea Demilitarized Zone South Korea 2002 Typhoon and coastal vulnerability Stockholm, Sweden Urban insecurity in times of war Tokyo and Hiroshima, Japan WW II bombings United States WW II involvement United States Violence and prison populations
- 28.
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- 32. Michael Kirby Smithfor The New York Times Nicole Bengiveno/The New York Times
- 34.
Editor's Notes
- #8 Hurricane Katrina made landfall in New Orleans on August 29th, 2005. New Orleans endured weeks of inundation and devastation, and months of disorganized efforts to recover from the disaster. Despite the media reports portraying New Orleans as paralyzed and helpless, or even worse descending into chaos, ordinary citizens were observed planting and caring for trees in neighborhoods across the city. In the four years since the hurricane, three local NGOs, Parkway Partners, Hike for KaTREEna, and Replant New Orleans, have worked with community volunteers and government agencies to plant over 6000 trees in hard hit areas. Interviews I conducted with volunteers in the devastated 9th Ward neighborhood and with leaders of New Orleans NGOs have revealed how trees mattered to people’s ability to survive the storm, and how replanting trees was critical in bolstering people’s resolve to rebuild their lives and their city in the wake of the disaster. Residents also spoke of their memories of the live oaks and other trees that had been symbolic of New Orleans as a place to live, and now have become a symbol of hope for re-growth of the city and of their lives.
- #11 Frazer was among the first to devote significant effort to understanding the symbolic use of trees by humans. Other important figures in the field of anthropology, such as Victor Turner, have also explored trees in symbol and ritual. “…Trees are used symbolically to make concrete and material the abstract notion of life [and are] … ideal supports for such symbolic purpose precisely because their status as living organisms is ambiguous.” Laura Rival Trees as symbols are employed in multiple ways, as Rival catalogs; to depict life cycle rituals, to make sense of the human body, to visualize kinship, and to express solidarity, continuity and vitality of a community, among others. It is this last expression I am going to focus on today, how the symbolic elements of tree presence and tree planting contributes to the solidarity, continuity, vitality, and I would add, resilience, of a community.
- #21 Claiborne Avenue runs through the Treme neighborhood, which was first developed in the early nineteenth century. Historically, Claiborne Avenue boasted a wide “neutral ground” which was lined with old and stately live oak trees, and the public green space is said to have been used as a community gathering place for the area's mostly African-American residents. The Claiborne intersection at Orleans Avenue, in the heart of Treme, remains an important meeting ground for the Mardi Gras Indians (Lipsitz 1988), groups of African-American men who have adapted traditions and dress of 19th century Plains Indians to further awareness of race and class inequity in New Orleans (Roach 1992). Historically, the Treme stretch of Claiborne was primarily commercial, with residential neighborhoods throughout the surrounding blocks, and thus was an important African-American shopping area. The history of the Treme neighborhood is well described on the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center Pre-Katrina Archives website, and the history of Claiborne Avenue is described in detail in Campanella (2002). The construction of Highway 10 through the Treme neighborhood as an elevated freeway above the oldest section of Claiborne Avenue in the late 1960s is widely thought to be one of the most, if not the most, controversial development in the history of New Orleans. Though the original design called for the highway to be built along the river through the French Quarter, a successful campaign was organized by residents of the French Quarter and preservationists to reroute the highway. The width of Claiborne Avenue provided an alternate convenient route for construction. The opposition of the residents of Treme was insufficient to stop the project. After construction, poorly lit cement parking lots under the freeway replaced the grassy neutral ground, and concrete supports for the highway replaced the old oak trees, drastically and permanently changing the streetscape. It is thought that the construction of the overpass was related to the overall decline of the Treme neighborhood in the 60's and 70's (Rogers 2009). After Katrina in 2005, residents of the Treme neighborhood urgently and vigorously began planting trees. During interviews conducted by the first author (Tidball) with members of the New Orleans post-Katrina tree planting group in Treme, who were in the midst of planting on a street close to the freeway, it became clear that memories of the Claiborne Avenue highway development and subsequent loss of trees and neighborhood function were playing a large role in present day post-Katrina actions. A community elder recounted: I am going to go further back (than Katrina)…We lost something…we had these big majestic oaks that city planning and everyone else saw fit to uproot. Along with those oaks we had inherited businesses. So that’s the legacy that’s lost. So, these trees (we are planting) might be a reminder of what we lost, so that we don’t ever forget it and don’t let that happen to us again, as well as kind of light a fire under us to ensure that we won’t have to worry about a legacy being lost (due to Katrina) (Treme community member and tree planter, January 19 2009). Another community elder related: We remember, just about five short blocks from here, we have Claiborne Avenue, which was a beautiful corridor of oak trees that, it’s unfortunate, but the government came through with the interstate, and they knocked all the trees down…it destroyed the neighborhood; by destroying two hundred or three hundred year old trees, they destroyed the neighborhood. We need to do the opposite of that (Treme community leader and tree planter, January 19, 2009).
- #22 So where else might we see hints of this phenomenon?