Language & Making Place Wk 5

Language & Making Place

Wk 5 

The wk 5 podcast described mythic landscapes place as created by symbols (Auth. Unknown, 2013). I think this is also true of real and virtual worlds as symbols are important in providing a means for understanding and becoming comfortable within a diversity of environments. Language in the form of place names provides a way of defining boundaries and identifying tangible locations by tapping into the human consciousness of association and make the invisible visible (Tuan, 1991, p.684). 

The naming of place in our urban landscapes and SL are very much an arbitrary slapping on of names.Contrasting this are Indigenous Australian peoples Songlines, which naturally grew out of the surrounding environment as organic stories and art (Chatwin, 1987). Stemming from this realness it becomes clear that its through personal experience that places gain meaning and we develop a sense of place, ownership and ultimately identity. 

                                                                                                                Android Phone Name Generator: Does this make obvious the                                                                                                                          lack of meaning in many current day object and place names..? 

                                                                      

NAIDOC Week Digital Story Telling Project - The creation 

and maintenance of place is passed on as stories and through 

art.

Place: Through Indigenous Art

Yi-Fu Tuan says speech "transforms nature into a human place" (p. 684) and that language and speech are foundational to the formulation of all ideas, which may also culminate in material constructions of place. Tuan also highlights how story telling "converts mere objects into real presences" (Tuan, 1991, p.686). 

The week 5 podcast exposed perspectives on metaphors, fairytales, history and myths. One mythical undercurrent to western thought is that we as society are moving forward or developing Auth. Unknown (2013). To a degree SL is like a fairytale, in that it does provide some reflection of history and modern day societal interests. In both cases power and privilege are determining factors for which narratives are silenced and which rear their heads Auth. Unknown (2013). The power of voice in SL is dependent on ones computer access and technological knowledge as well as the mindset of SL censorship officials.                       

References 

Auth. Unkown (2011). Android Phone Name Generator. Retrieved from: <http://www.theverge.com/2011/12/6/2616693/android-phone-name-generator>

Auth. Unkown(2007). No Title. NAIDOC Week Digital Story Telling Project Retrieved from: <http://www.photoaccess.org.au/?q=node/60>

Auth. Unknown (2013). BA1002: Our Space; Networks Narratives and the making of space, week 5 notes. [mp4]. Retrieved from http://learnjcu.edu.au

Chatwin, B. (1987). Chapter 3, in Songlines (pp.11-15). London, England: Jonathon Cape.

Tuan, Y. (1991). Language and the making of place: A narrative-descriptive approach. In Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 81(4), 684-696.