Just a Thought About….Space

Ecocriticism, Space, and Place

By : Brielle Smith

When you think of your home how would you describe it. Would you think of it as somewhere warm, a place your comfortable where you could even recall the smell? Now think about that plot of land for sale you’ve passed by, uninhabited by any structure or bonds. Now put them together and think of a plot of land you’ve bought, and turned into your dream home. You’ve just now turned a space to a place! The book Literary theory by Mary Klages discusses ecocriticism, which essentially asks why we privilege humans over nature. Within this we can understand the difference between space and place, but can a space turned place be somewhere negative? I believe it can and to prove this we will look into the Native American Urban Relocation. First you need to understand the difference between space and place. Look at it like this:

SPACE

Klages described space as “a territory that has not been marked by any particular bond, affect, or social tie”

PLACE

Klages says, “when ecocritics talk about place, we are talking about a locale that means something to someone.” She also says,“place must elicit an emotional response.” A place is subjective and as long as it’s been assigned a human meaning it can become a place.

NATIVE AMERICAN URBAN RELOCATION:

In the 1950s the U.S government was trying to assimilate Natives into american culture. In 1953 the government ended a lot of support for native tribes and the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affiars) began a voluntary urban relocation program. This would put these tribes in cities. Yet, it was extremely hard for them to adjust to the city lifestyle. Many faced homelessness, discrimination, homesickness and more. This space turned place has now become somewhere the elicits an emotional response, but not a positive emotional response. 

ANTHROPOCENTRISM:

This can also fit into ecocriticism with the ideas of anthropocentrism. Roughly anthropocentrism says that all the living and non living things in the world are here to serve human interests at whatever expense. Native American reservations were sacred lands that only they lived on. They also had a deep respect for nature and what it does for us. But due to the anthropocentric views of the government and other humans it was taken with them wanting to develop building on it. 

So what are some KEY takeaways:

1) Space and Place are different

2) A place can be somewhere negative.

3) Humans are rooted in greed.

I mean who doesn’t care about the environment, right?

I don’t know, Just a thought!

National Archives and Records Administration. (n.d.). Native American Urban Relocation. National Archives and Records Administration. https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/indian-relocation.html