Truths and Tropes in Visual Representations of the Tropics (original) (raw)
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Tropical Landscapes and Nature~Culture Entanglements: Reading Tropicality via Avatar
eTropic: electronic journal of studies in the Tropics, 2022
Landscape integrates both natural and cultural aspects of a particular geographical area. Environmental elements include geological landforms, waterscapes, seascapes, climate and weather, flora and fauna. They also necessarily involve human perception and inscription which reflect histories of extraction and excavation, of planting and settlement, of design and pollution. Natural elements and cultural shaping by humans – past, present, and future – means landscapes reflect living entanglements involving people, materiality, space and place. A landscape’s physicality is entwined with layers of human meaning and value – and tropical landscapes have particular significance. The Tropics is far more than geographic and needs to be understood through the notion of tropicality. Tropicality refers to how the tropics are construed as the exoticised Other of the temperate Western world as this is informed by cultural, imperial, and scientific practices. In this imaginary – in which the tropics are depicted through nature tropes as either fecund paradise or fetid hell – the temperate is portrayed as civilised and the tropical as requiring cultivation. In order to frame this Special Issue through an example that evokes tropicality we undertake an ethnographic and ecocritical reading of Avatar. The film Avatar is redolent with images of tropical landscapes and their nature-culture entanglements. It furthermore reveals classic pictorial tropes of exoticism, which are in turn informed by colonialism and its underlying notions of technologism verses primitivism. Furthermore, Avatar calls to mind the theories of rhizomatics and archipelagic consciousness.
2015
Tropical Interzone Pertaining to the solstice, far of the parallels of the latitudes between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. Far from the two circles of the celestial sphere. Far from the “somewhere” to “turn back”. What it could be? An image of desire? Far of the habit? Far of the ordinary? The otherness? The far..? An excitingly strange… let’s say creature. But this creature, bizarre and untiringly unusual, a foreign allure, overlaps with a series of imaginary constructions, channels for supra realities and fictions. Is strikingly constructed with artificial elements of desire and pleasure, far of ideologies; Could it exist far of the colonial view? Far of the Eurocentric construction of a history of subordination? It might be a fiction, a construction far from the Ecuadorian geographies, latitudes, and clime. Curated by Anne Brand Galvez
Tidelines: Creative Vision, Ecology and the Tropics
eTropic: electronic journal of studies in the tropics, 2016
On a sunny, calm day in the tropics, waves wash ashore plastic bottles, discarded thongs and sparkling red shards from broken car taillights, littering the tideline. The appeal of the tropics, imagined as a pristine verdant paradise replete with exotic plants and enigmatic animals, belies the impact of human activity on the region. Works of art, however, can reveal this ecological change, offering new ways of comprehending our place in the tropics. The capacity of artists to address these changes in a way that generates reflective understanding is examined in this paper. Both the author’s works of art and those of other artists in the tropical region are analyzed in terms of their aesthetic properties. These findings may assist artists who endeavor to present new ways of imaging change in the ecology of the tropics.
eTropic: electronic journal of studies in the tropics
Introduction to the Special Issue of <em>eTropic</em> on The International Day of the Tropics
Topical notes; tropical tropes and ancient actions© Dainis Dauksta Autumn 2016
Tropes are literary devices; words, phrases, motifs and recurrent themes which most of us recognise in literature, films and even everyday speech. 'Angels dancing on a needle's point' is a well-known trope used to illustrate the futility of debating abstract minutiae; it also hints at the 'needless points' scored in academic and political arguments. The tropical island with coconut palms growing along beaches is a natural paradise trope, nowadays used for selling holidays and chocolate bars. Actually coconut palm trees are mostly domesticated species and have been spread by humans more than any 'natural' processes. Coconut palms growing along tropical beaches across much of world could therefore be described as exotic monocultural plantations. Furthermore they are known to seriously influence surrounding biodiversity. Nevertheless coconut trees provide a celebrated staple commodity for many cultures and they neatly symbolise the awkward relationship between ecology and economy. You could be forgiven for missing the academic article 'Ecological consequences of human niche construction' published in June 2016 while politicians were exchanging needless points and political tropes about 'Brexit'. Actually, this apparently dry archaeological paper contains enough evidence to knock the world of conventionally received ecology sideways. The subject of ecology has dominated debates about landscape use and our interaction with the planet's biosphere since the 1960s when a new political 'environmentalist' movement started gathering momentum. Books such as Rachel Carson's 'Silent Spring' (1962) questioned blind faith in scientific progress and emphasised the negative impacts of humans on the natural world. Carson can be credited for stopping use of DDT and 2,4,5-T in American forests but misinformed environmentalism can also be credited with obstructing our objective study of landscapes and shackling the implementation of plantation forestry worldwide. If we efficiently managed only 20% of the world's forest area utilising planted species in high yield forests we could ring-fence the remaining 80% for biodiversity and conservation whilst fulfilling WWF's recently-published aspiration to dramatically increase timber production.
Imag(in)ing Decolonial Ecology: Exploring Tropical Eco-Graphic Narratives
eTropic: electronic journal of studies in the Tropics, 2023
Decoloniality is a critical approach that seeks to dismantle the hegemonic and oppressive structures of Eurocentric epistemologies. It promotes reflection on how texts and knowledge production perpetuate othering and oppression. Imag(in)ing decoloniality along with ecocritical thinking, this paper envisions tropical ecology as transcending the constraints of dominant discourses and explores how graphic narrative aids in reconfiguring the boundaries between human subjectivity and decolonial-ecocritical aesthetics. The article emphasises the potential of multimodality to proffer novel approaches for considering the connections between human/nonhuman, nature/culture and the tropical/temperate, and advocates a decanonisation of literary genres to decentralise the power of logocentric discourse. More specifically, the paper examines three eco-graphic narratives-Martina and the Bridge of Time (2020), Dengue (2015), and Bhimayana (2011)-to demonstrate their capacity in articulating coloniality in the tropical environment to highlight the importance of addressing historical and cultural wounds. This intersection of decoloniality, ecocriticism, and graphic narrative, along with the notion of tropicality, allows us to witness the evolution of the fields in an exciting and complex way. In sum, we examine how graphic narrative can act as a decolonial option for the tropics.
The Degeneration of Tropical Geography
Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 2004
Eight years ago in Hay's largest used bookstore, one of us (James) discovered and purchased a worn secondhand copy of Geographers and the Tropics: Liverpool Essays
Journeys into the Rainforest (Terra Australis 43)
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Terra Australis reports the results of archaeological and related research within the south and east of Asia, though mainly Australia, New Guinea and island Melanesia-lands that remained terra australis incognita to generations of prehistorians. Its subject is the settlement of the diverse environments in this isolated quarter of the globe by peoples who have maintained their discrete and traditional ways of life into the recent recorded or remembered past and at times into the observable present.
In tropical regions Landscape architects are suited to leading design teams for buildings as well as sites. Many primary living spaces are outdoors, and climate-responsive design will involve exterior spaces and landscapes. There is a great need for low impact development in these swiftly developing areas. Cultural sensitivity is critical for professionals from other regions. Even though cultures change as their economy develops, traditional forms have deep meaning and must be springboards for new uses. Form should follow meaning more than function in many cultures. Only by stretching their cross-cultural abilities will designers be able to discover the core elements of a culture to preserve. The author provides examples from two different settings. The social meaning of traditional forms often is influential even if clients do not verbalize its importance. Designers from other regions need simple but accurate tools to understand climate. The author has used an excel chart showing how average temperature and humidity combined determine comfort levels.