| Abstract: | Lawrence Buell points out in his book The Future of Environmental Criticism that ecocriticism arises with the discussion of the dialectical relationship between space and place. Through human inhabitance places were created from space.
Therefore, the world history is a history of space becoming place. However, Buell discussion of place. Even though Buell is excited with the inclusion of urban landscapes in the discussion of placeness and place-attachment in recent ecocriticism,Merchant is right to point out the dualism between city wilderness and sublime
wilderness because the nature of cities are black and malign while the sublime nature is white and benign. Therefore, in this paper, I want to argue that a place will never be just an abstract space as Buell points out, but it should be an emotional excess besides its social construction. It will never be just a copy of the global sameness. But its excess resists: the wonder and the otherness of the place will always surprise
us again and again if we are willing to open our heart to experience it. Therefore, I agree with Mick Smith in his book An Ethics of Place that a place is always a site of excess. Such an ethic of excess will always be a place of resistance against the homogenization and monocultures brought about by the globalization as both
Vandana Shiva and Greg Garrard strongly argues.
argues that modern history has reversed this process and turned a place once again
into a space. Opposing such a development, contemporary environmental criticism
stresses the importance of place-attachment, viewing a place as a site of ?politics of
resistance.? However, with the emergence of global culture, Buell cautions us to
confront the experience of ?non-place.? Arguing that in the age of globalization, place must be thought of as an ?artifact,? a ?mapping of space,? or an ?ecocultural icon.? Echoing Buell to a certain extent, Carolyn Merchant in Reinventing Eden seems to agree with Buell that ?Recovery of Eden? is the mainstream narrative of
Western culture. Interestingly, she points out that the suburb, the mall, the clone, and
the World Wide Web are ?incarnations of Eden.? An attempt has been made by the Western culture to ?reclaim the lost Eden.? But, on the other hand, revealing the negligence of Buell, Merchant points out that the New World Eden is actually a
?colonized Eden.? Therefore, instead of being an abstract space, the issues of environmental racism and ecological imperialism should be considered in the discussion of place. Even though Buell is excited with the inclusion of urban
landscapes in the discussion of placeness and place-attachment in recent ecocriticism,
Merchant is right to point out the dualism between city wilderness and sublime
wilderness because the nature of cities are black and malign while the sublime nature
is white and benign. Therefore, in this paper, I want to argue that a place will never
be just an abstract space as Buell points out, but it should be an emotional excess
besides its social construction. It will never be just a copy of the global sameness.
But its excess resists: the wonder and the otherness of the place will always surprise
us again and again if we are willing to open our heart to experience it. Therefore, I
agree with Mick Smith in his book An Ethics of Place that a place is always a site of
excess. Such an ethic of excess will always be a place of resistance against the
homogenization and monocultures brought about by the globalization as both
Vandana Shiva and Greg Garrard strongly argues. |
