WebText- GEOGRAPHY OF UTAH

Chapter 2 – PLACE and Utah Geography

DRAFT webtext by G. Atwood, 2012

Use with professional courtesy and attribution including attribution of original sources where indicated.

LINK to printable version… it may differ a bit from this web-posted version.

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Subtitle:

Know where you are… know who you are… know where you are… know who you are

LINK to course flier

BIG CONCEPTS (meaning… these concepts provide ways to explore concepts of geography of Utah … and the second of geography’s great themes… place. The five great themes of geography are: location, place, interaction, movement, and region.

1. Place connects us to location.

2. Wallace Stegner explored place and placelessness with respect to his own roots… and Utah.

3. The Power of Place. Places leave imprints on people.

4. A sense of place is not the same as a sense of direction.

5. The term ‘place’ has several meanings: … specifically, to the geography of Utah

6. Landmarks are signposts… a tried and true path toward a sense of place according to GAtwood.

7. What’s in a name? Name a place… connect to that place

8. Utah ’s counties… learn their names, begin to have a sense of place about them.

9. County boundaries and county names have evolved through Utah’s history primarily due to issues of social and behavioral science: politics, demographics, economics… and physical geography (mountains as barriers to movement).

10. Abundant information exists at a county scale for students of geography of Utah.

11. Practice paths to a sense of place while memorizing Utah’s counties.

FIRST some EVIDENCE. Examine these images in the context of PLACE.

Atwood-DelicateArch

UT_DMV-CentennialLicensePlate

Atwood-UofU-Place-LibrarySquareMarriott

Atwood-UofU-LookWestFromGolfCourse

Atwood-U-Mountain

US-Capitol

UT-StateCapitol

Quotation:

Brigham Young, July 1847, is said to have said “This is the PLACE!”… note, he didn’t say, this is the LOCATION.

Cases:

This is the Place – monument and heritage park LINK to GoogleEarthLink and to Park website / ad in SLTribune

UofU environmental humanities program… placed-based literature - LINK to UofU environmental humanities

LINK to: Utah Place Names, Van Cott, 1990, UofU Press, 453 p.

Topics… Questions to Ponder –

What is the difference between PLACE and LOCATION? ... LINK to The 15 Words of GEOG3600

What is a sense of place?

What is placelessness?

Elementary school students (I’ve been told by a researcher whose name I have forgotten … ) who have a sense of place “do better” than those who are “placeless.”

Overarching Goal of the Chapter:

You should understand what others mean by a sense of place by the end of this lecture and by the end of this text, or course, you should (a) have a heart-beat sense of place for Utah and (b) the knowledge and skills to develop a sense place for anywhere.

By the end of this chapter… you should:

 Understand what Stegner / Berry meant when they said… “if you don’t know where you are, you don’t know who you are” (Stegner, Wallace, 1992, The Sense of Place, in Where the Bluebird sings to the Lemonade Springs: living and writing in the West. Random House: NYC, p.199-206.)

 Kind of understand why the second theme of geography is PLACE.

 Know, in theory, at least five ways to gain a sense of place… such as,

 Landmarks

 Names

 Understanding

 Literature

 Emotion

 Kinesthetic appreciation.

 Have explored your own sense of place.

 Understand that geographers and others set boundaries, name features, define places… as well as determine location.

Coaching for students of UofU GEOG3600-Geography of Utah:

Memorize the Five Themes of Geography. (Location, Place, Interaction, Migration/Movement, and Region).

Coaching: Memorize the general location and names of Utah ’s 29 counties. How? As you read / follow this lecture, pick up clues to paths toward a sense of place. Let those paths help you memorize the counties. For example, think of two “silly” connections for each county's shape and location to remind you of the county's name. For example, Juab looks like a jab (arm and fist). I can almost imaging Beaver County as a beaver.

MAJOR CONCEPT:

PLACE is the second of the “five themes of geography” the others being (1) location, (3) migration / movement, (4) interaction, and (5) region. Place is “location” plus personal connectedness / attachment. Landmarks are one of several paths to gaining a sense of place. Sense of place is a pathway to empowerment.

The connectedness may be psychological, historical, by familiarity, by understanding, or by landmarks… cultural or physical landmarks. It can even by song or by literature. It is personal. It is special. It’s a bit nebulous, associated with sub-conscious affiliations.

Terms to understand with respect to PLACE

These terms may be on the mid-term (use your own words) or on quizzes

Place

Sense of place

Placelessness

Sense of direction

Boundary

Political boundary

History

State of Utah

County

Some THEORY / CONCEPTS towards an understanding of PLACE and geography of UTAH

1. Place is more than location. Place connects us to location.

Atwood-Delicate Arch PLACE : Physicallandmark.

Atwood-UofU-Marriott-Library PLACE : Cultural landmark

Location is with respect to another location, often a place. Place is … hmmm… explore this a bit on your own.

2. Wallace Stegner explored place and placelessness with respect to his own roots… and Utah.

“Sense of Place” has become a mantra of western US culture (Stegner, Doig, Hillerman.)… Professors with Utah roots, such as Wallace Stegner, have mentored others including Utah’s Terry Tempest Williams (author, and associated with the UofU environmental humanities program); and non-Utahns with a deep sense of place about Utah (e.g. Philip Fradkin -- ). Consider taking GEOG2600-Geography, Yoga, and a Sense of Place in Spring, 2013. LINK to proposed syllabus.

Thought questions:

Would you consider yourself a “placed” person or a “displaced” person or a “placeless” person… and what would you explore as you discuss the differences?

Where is your sense of place from? What is that sense…

LINK to image of book jacket of Where the Bluebird Sings to the Lemonade Springs, essay on The Sense of Place by Stegner.

LINK to full text, http://www.mtbaker.wednet.edu/tlcf/The%20Sense%20of%20Place.htm

GAtwood reads excerpts as part of podcast...

Backdrop LINK to Stegner symposium 2009

3. The Power of Place.

Grade school students who are “placeless” do not do as well in school as student with a sense of place, even if it is for somewhere else.

Ongoing research explores “place-attachment” such as place attachment of residents within 5 miles of Great Salt Lake, their attachment to the lake. That research may explore associations of place and issues of political science (think… webs of relationships among The 15 Words of GEOG3600).

Philosopher – Geographer Yi-Fu Tuan explores concepts of space, place and safety. He relates a sense of place to sense of “home” and to “habitat.” He discusses places as safe havens, where one lives, -or- where one feels at home, even if it isn’t home. He also discusses how a sense of place is a “pause” … where one can catch one’s breath or where one’s breath is taken away by connectedness… connectedness understood or a visceral sense of connectedness. Tuan explores how sense of place relates to a sense of scale. He explores paths to connectedness: sense of state, heritage, or country heritage; versus community or school.

Paths to a sense of place include: physical and cultural landmarks… and naming those places. Components of a sense of place can include: familiarity, reinforced by conversation, by emotion, by activities, by family, by heritage, art, humanities. LINK UofU

Names... place names

Story telling… history, landscape, place… geography

4. A sense of place is not the same as a sense of direction

SENSE of DIRECTION versus a SENSE of PLACE

A sense of direction is not the same as a sense of place

Both can be developed... and enhanced through landmarks

A sense of direction versus cookie crumb directions

A poor sense of direction can be a handicap that can be partially overcome

Visualization – picture, in your mind’s eye, where you live LINK to view west toward Oquirrhs..

For an entire year, resolve to better your sense of direction by reviewing your day, spatially, just before you go to sleep. Imagine yourself in an airplane, keep north solidly north in your mind's eye, and move through your day as though you watched yourself from that imaginary airplane. That's one way to gain a sense of direction... as well as a sense of place... and a good night's sleep.

5. The term “place” has several meanings. Some provide insight to geography … and specifically to the geography of Utah.

Here's the Mirriam Webster definition, reformatted. On an exam or midterm, could you discuss the term in your own words and how it applies to Utah and places in Utah?

Main Entry: 1 place; Pronunciation:\ˈplās\; Function: noun

Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French, open space, from Latin platea broad street, from Greek plateia (hodos), from feminine of platys broad, flat; akin to Sanskrit pṛthu broad, Latin planta sole of the foot. Date:13th century

1 a: physical environment : space. b: a way for admission or transit. c: physical surroundings : atmosphere

2 a: an indefinite region or expanse <all over the ∼>b: a building or locality used for a special purpose <a ∼ of learning> <a fine eating ∼>c: archaic: the three-dimensional compass of a material object

3 a: a particular region, center of population, or location <a nice ∼ to visit> b: a building, part of a building, or area occupied as a home <our summer ∼>

4: a particular part of a surface or body : spot

5: relative position in a scale or series: as a position in a social scale <kept them in their ∼> b: a step in a sequence <in the first ∼, it's none of your business> c: a position at the conclusion of a competition <finished in last ∼>

6 a: a proper or designated niche or setting <the ∼ of education in society> b: an appropriate moment or point <this is not the ∼ to discuss compensation — Robert Moses> c: a distinct condition, position, or state of mind <the postfeminist generation is in a different ∼ — Betty Friedan>

7 a: an available seat or accommodation <needs a ∼ to stay> b: an empty or vacated position <new ones will take their ∼>

8: the position of a figure in relation to others of a row or series especially: the position of a digit within a numeral

9 a: remunerative employment : job. b: prestige accorded to one of high rank : status <an endless quest for preferment and ∼ — Time>

10: a public square : plaza

11: a small street or court

12: second place at the finish (as of a horse race)

— in place

1: also into place a: in an original or proper position. b: established, instituted, or operational <systems in place>

2: in the same spot without forward or backward movement <run in place>

— in place of : as a substitute or replacement for : instead of

— out of place 1: not in the proper or usual location

6. Landmarks are visible signposts… a tried and true path to a sense of place according to GAtwood. Landmarks can be physical, cultural or both.

LINK Bowen SLCounty with UofU. LINK Bowen SLCounty looking west Note: ESE has permission to use these images in our teaching. Respect his contribution and, rather than copy from ESE, go to William Bowen's awesome digital atlas and find an image perfect for your understanding of "your" place: : http://130.166.124.2/utah_panorama_atlas/index.html

How do you orient yourself, for example, in Salt Lake County?

When you are a tourist… what do you want to visit?

When you are coming home from a trip, what makes you feel that you are getting close to home?

Physical landmarks are a way to develop a sense of place. Here are landmarks you might memorize for Salt Lake County if you wanted to share a sense of place with a curious adult or impressionable child. Note, these are physical landmarks, landforms. They can be used to foster a sense of direction, and a sense of belonging. Each of these landmarks has a story. They can be “understood” and they can help us understand… where we are and who we are.

Farnsworth Peak; Mount Olympus; Lone Peak. Traverse Mountains. Salt Lake Salient. Wasatch Range. Oquirrh Mountains.

7. What’s in a name? Name a place… connect to that place.

According to some geographers, philosophers, even parent… naming a place, or a person, or a pet is a way to connect. Case history: family story… not allowed to name a pet … unless going to keep it. So: learn Utah’s counties’ names… and connect to them. Don’t learn their names, and it will be more difficult to foster a sense of place about them.

Geographers name places. We have established process to establish names, and, occasionally, to remove names. Here are three links if you are curious about the process: Utah Committee on Geographic Names; language/culture of names; USGS official names. Some people still think geography is mostly about names… place names (states, capitols, and boundaries) rather than the web of relationships among people, places and environments. LINK to what is geography..

Thought Question: What’s in a name? What is jargon? Why and how do we name places?

My advice: when you want / need to be professional, use official names

8. Utah’s counties… learn their names, begin to have a sense of place about them

Thought questions:

Why memorize anything?

Why know where counties are in Utah?

If you’re taking Geography of Utah, is it reasonable to expect you to know where most of Utah’s counties are… why and why not?

LINK to map of Utah's counties UGS with names
LINK to map with county boundaries no names
(No need to memorize county seats, but here they are LINK)
LINK to Tim Edgar's game for memorizing county names... thanks, Tim
Also this interactive-map game on the web to name Utah's counties: LINK to the game http://www.purposegames.com/game/utah-counties-quiz ...
LINK to map of conterminous USA counties.

Utah counties are the political subdivisions of Utah smaller than the state and larger than cities. Utah has 29 counties. Counties are the "regions" referenced in news reports, legislative appropriations, and property settlements. To understand the USA , it helps to know the 50 states. LINK to one of several sites... to place the 50 states http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/web_games.htm#Games ... and if you visit that website, note the page for Utah and use of a single landmark. To understand Utah geography, it helps to know the 29 counties.