{"id":130,"date":"2024-03-26T11:30:20","date_gmt":"2024-03-26T11:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/culturaltheory\/?post_type=content&p=130"},"modified":"2024-04-03T10:58:21","modified_gmt":"2024-04-03T10:58:21","slug":"chapter-13-culture-and-nature","status":"publish","type":"content","link":"https:\/\/staging.routledgelearning.com\/culturaltheory\/chapter-resources\/chapter-13-culture-and-nature\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 13 – Culture and nature"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\n\tHome<\/a>\n<\/span>\/<\/span>\n\tChapter Resources<\/a>\n<\/span>\/<\/span>\n\tChapter 13 \u2013 Culture and nature\n<\/span><\/div>\n\n

Chapter 13 – Culture and nature<\/h1>\n\n\n

It is from our working with nature that we derive our concept of culture. Its origins can be seen in words like agriculture and cultivation. And yet without culture we would have no concept of nature. We might think we know what we mean when we refer to nature, but we are never referring to a thing-in-itself but to a cultural construct. While nature is materiality; it is through culture that we experience it, understand it, and make it signify. It can signify both a material reality and a cultural construction. It consists of the materiality of trees, rivers, mountains and seas, for example, but each of these is a cultural construct. In this way, then, nature can be both popular culture and an object of cultural theory. Nature is a multi-accentual sign, available to be articulated in a range of different ways. How nature is represented in culture is an obvious concern for cultural theory and popular culture. Moreover, whether we are in the Anthropocene or the Capitalocene, our current and historical relations with nature threaten our and its very existence.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

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Before you read <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Warm-up<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Watch Welcome to the Wound, <\/em>the promo video of an international conference Anthropocenes. Reworking the Wound<\/em>. How does it address the problem of culture, nature and the cultural study thereof? How does it make the problem of culture and nature particularly timely? <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Preliminary questions<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Discussions about culture and nature have been present in cultural studies for a very long time. How those discussions are more relevant today?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  • Why should we address the problem of nature by means of cultural concepts and approaches?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • What previously discussed ideas and problems (in Chapters 1 to 12) seem applicable to the problem of nature?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Is (and to what extent) nature a cultural phenomenon?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Is nature an object of meaning formation?<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • What notions of Anthropocene and Capitalocene (to be discussed in Chapter 13) imply about the culture\u2014nature dynamic?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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    After you read: Important ideas <\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    The concept of <\/em>nature unravels a variety of cultural phenomena that have defined and reflected upon a number of cultural and environmental issues. Showing the relationship between the cultural and the environmental, Chapter 13 signals the role of signification and representation in our perception of nature and nature-related issues. Using quizzes 13.1 and 8.2 revisit your knowledge of culture and nature acquired from Chapter 13.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    Quiz 13.1<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Choose between true<\/em> or false<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n