Cultures of Nature

Abstract

Geographers (both physical and human) have long been fascinated by how people relate to their environment, but have often taken the underlying concepts used to understand these relations for granted. Since the mid‐1990s a particular body of scholarship has challenged these taken‐for‐granted concepts. Research into “cultures of nature” analyzes culturally specific understandings of nature, in the process revealing that what we consider to be “natural,” and how we value it, varies culturally. This scholarship is best‐known for fascinating examples including the critique of the wilderness idea, indigenous understandings of landscape, and the examination of boundary‐making practices, both materi..