Lowenthal, D., 1975, Past time, present place: landscape and memory, in: The Geographical Review, 65, 1
- Author : Lowenthal, D.
- Year : 1975
- Journal/Series : The Geographical Review
- Volume Number (ANNUAL: Counting Volumes of the Year shown above) : 1
- Volume Number (CONSECUTIVE: Counting all Volumes of this Journal ever published) : 65
- Pages : 1-36
- Contents in English : An essay on memory. “We need the past to cope with present landscapes. We selectively perceive what we arte accustomed to seeing; features and patterns in the landscape make sense to us because we share a history with them. Every object, every grouping, every view is intelligible partly because we are already familiar with it, through our past and through tales heard, books read, pictures viewed. We see things simultaneously as are and we viewed them before; previous experience suffuses all present perception. Each scene and object is invested with a history of real or imagined involvements; their perceived identities stem from past acts and expectations. Without the past a tangible or remembered evidence we could not function. The past is not only recalled: it is incarnate in the things we build and the landscapes we create. We make our environment comfortable by incorporating or fabricating memorabilia, and we feel at home with new products when their camouflage evokes the old.”
- Comments/Notes : KEYWORDS: Sense of place, landscape, memory, identity