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{"id":1640,"date":"2013-09-26T04:00:52","date_gmt":"2013-09-26T04:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/asenseofplace\/?p=1640"},"modified":"2013-09-26T16:52:33","modified_gmt":"2013-09-26T16:52:33","slug":"returning-to-america-place-as-cultural-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/asenseofplace\/2013\/09\/returning-to-america-place-as-cultural-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"Returning To America : Place As Cultural Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"\"$ <\/a><\/p>\n

Each time I return from abroad, I am struck by just how different things are here in \u2018Murica.\u00a0 Spaces are large, cars move fast, and people are pointy.\u00a0 Life in the U.S. is like an oil painting, with layered color, defined texture, and not-so-subtle edges.\u00a0 Contrast this with the watercolor world that is Ireland, where I have lived for the past three years, and suddenly the two cultures, though shaped and influenced by shared or similar values and forces, appear at polar ends of a cultural spectrum.\u00a0 On one end you have collectivist culture that values the group over the individual, and on the other end you have individualist culture that emphasizes personal achievement above group goals.<\/p>\n

This spectrum is also found when considering what Place means, to both individuals and to academics.\u00a0 Within some academic disciplines, a sense of place refers to the group experience, or to those symbols that help shape cultural meaning.\u00a0 To others, it refers to a very personal experience of a specific landscape, or setting.\u00a0 Even within these categories, or ways of understanding and relating to place, there are different ways to connect: biographical (birth place), spiritual (intangible sense of belonging), ideological (moral\/ethical), narrative (mythical), commodified (self-selected based on lifestyle preference), and dependent (constrained due to lack of choice or ability).<\/p>\n

As a human-person, I may experience my place in any number of values or combinations along these two different spectra, both in terms of my personal preference and of my cultural understanding. \u00a0My sense of place, of \u2018home\u2019 versus \u2018elsewhere\u2019, or \u2018us\u2019 and \u2018them\u2019, arises through my mobility, or potential of mobility\u2013it is activated by my movement through my landscape. \u00a0Our scale of mobility, in a postmodern world, has changed dramatically. \u00a0Just 50 years ago, the notion that I could wake-up in Cork and go to sleep in Boston was alien and out of reach for most people.<\/p>\n

At one time, human settlement was shaped by the landscape. \u00a0Now, we shape the landscape to fit our human settlements. \u00a0That shaping is determined, in large part, by our cultural connection, or relationship, with place. \u00a0I believe the modern world is experiencing a bit of an identity crisis. \u00a0Our technology has so removed us from a sensual experience of our environment\u2013an experience that is vital for health and wellbeing\u2013that we have forgotten, or lost touch with, an embodied sense of place. \u00a0Our rediscovery of place, as a centre of felt value reflective of the aspirations of a people, is paramount, for environmental, social, and personal reasons.<\/p>\n

I am still learning a lot about what place means to me, and what is personally important to my own sense of place.\u00a0 One thing Ireland taught me is the importance of relationship, and connection, with other human-persons.\u00a0 I always thought myself a bit of a hermit, and I am to some extent.\u00a0 I\u2019m very happy to sit at home for days on end, with no outside contact.\u00a0 Yet, I need substantive relationships, with other human-persons, that are within reach when I need them.\u00a0 The human part was a key, and new, insight.<\/p>\n

My unique upbringing (a sense of having been reared by nature, not parents) led me to believe humans were not my favorites.\u00a0 I still prefer sitting in the arms of my Blackthorn friend than around a table with many humans, but my experience in Ireland reminded me of our social natures.\u00a0 We need each other.\u00a0 We are relational beings, and there is no getting away from that.<\/p>\n

The pull of relationship is what brought me to Boston, where I am staying for the next several weeks supporting a friend with her first baby.\u00a0 While I am here, I have the opportunity to test culture and place.\u00a0 Massachusetts may be part of the U.S., but it has a distinct cultural expression; and though this neighborhood is part of Boston, it offers a unique experience of place.<\/p>\n

To connect with these spaces, I am using the same techniques I employ when connecting with any city (of which I have spoken on this blog), though I have added relationship building with the house itself, because my friend is quite literally building her \u2018home\u2019. \u00a0 So far, my experience of Boston is of a fast moving river in a narrow bank.\u00a0 It\u2019s a little daunting!\u00a0 My experience of this neighborhood, in particular, is of a hedge\u2013a dividing line between places.\u00a0 I look forward to seeing what the coming weeks hold, and how my experience and perception of America changes.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"