Ritual, Refuge, Reverence, and Reflection: Landscapes of the Soul 3 Scott A
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A Publication of the Foundation for Landscape Studies A Journal of Place Volume xvı | Number ı | Fall 2020 Ritual, Refuge, Reverence, and Reflection: Landscapes of the Soul 3 Scott A. Heyes: Embracing Indigenous Knowledge Systems: the Spiritual Dimensions of Place Willis Jenkins: Listening to the Hidden Land Tradition in Bhutan Allison James: The Ritual Practice of Making Semeni in Northern Turkmenistan John Beardsley: Sacred to the Memory: Richmond’s Cemeteries in Black and White Reuben M. Rainey and Kim Tanzer: Spiritual Places: The Design of Sanctuaries in 21st-Century Hospitals Review 21 Reuben M. Rainey: Spying on the South: An Odyssey Across the American Divide by Tony Horwitz Contributors 23 Letter from the Editor ike “mind” and “the god within you” – a Reflection: Landscapes of Allison James documents worship and meditation in “heart,” the word sense of our core being as an the Soul.” the influence of Sunni modern hospitals as spaces “soul” is often on animating spiritual force. Here we consider the Muslim and pre-Islamic catering to the spiritual our lips. But what However we may wish to significance of faraway traditions on the commu- needs of patients, staff, and do we mean by our define it, the soul and the ritual places in cultures that nity’s spiritual relationship visitors of various religious Lrespective use of these three meaning of place are inter- may be unfamiliar to us. to nature. persuasions. Their study words? woven in our consciousness. Scott Heyes, an Australian Within our own culture, focuses on who uses these We have a clear associa- “Soul space,” as it might be landscape-studies scholar, cemeteries are places of spaces, how they are used, tion of the mind with the called, is for many a psy- writes about conceptions of memory. Hospital sanctuar- and the manner in which brain and the heart with chologically resonant place the sacred among the Indig- ies are places of prayer for they are designed, drawing the organ that pumps blood in nature; for others it may enous peoples of Nunavik, the sick and the dying as on examples from hospitals throughout our bodies and be a sanctuary for worship, Canada, and the Fiji Islands, well as meditation refuges across the United States. also acts as the sentimental prayer, or meditation. For and how, for both the Inuit for institutional caregiv- Reuben Rainey, the coedi- symbol for love. “Soul” is members of particular faiths and the iTaukei, such con- ers. In his essay “Sacred tor of this issue of SiteLines, a more ambiguous word. it is a pilgrimage site: a place ceptions are inseparable to the Memory: African joins me in reminding you Because of its immaterial- for demonstrating religious from the land itself. Willis American Cemeteries in that the intellectual qual- ity, some deny its existence reverence through celebra- Jenkins of the Department Richmond,” John Beardsley ity and literary lifeblood altogether; others use it tory worship after long of Religious Studies of focuses on the neglect of of this journal comes from metaphorically to denote and arduous travel by foot. the University of Virginia two historic Black cemeter- donations by our readers. a particular quality – as in Cemeteries, if undisturbed discusses how Bhutan’s ies in Richmond, Virginia, We urge you to mail us your “soul food.” More often it by neglect or vandalism, are traditional landscape hosts, highlighting recent efforts contribution to the Founda- is linked with the notion of landscapes where the souls interprets, and manages to restore them and inter- tion for Landscape Studies the spiritual, often as the of the dead rest in peace; the external forces bearing pret the rituals of remem- in the enclosed envelope. means of communication institutional sanctuaries, if upon the perceptions of its brance associated with with God, however elusive thoughtfully designed, are sacred Himalayan Buddhist them. In “Spiritual Places: With good green wishes, that may be. Think in this refuges for prayer and medi- features. In recounting her The Design of Sanctuar- regard of the word “enthu- tation. To explore these participation in a ritual cele- ies in Twenty-first Century siasm,” which is etymologi- phenomena in various brating the advent of spring Hospitals,” Reuben Rainey, cally derived from the Greek ways – religious, psycho- in a village in the northern professor emeritus of the adjective entheos, meaning logical, political, practical, region of Turkmenistan, University of Virginia, and Elizabeth Barlow Rogers cultural – the theme of this Kim Tanzer, former dean President issue of SiteLines is “Ritual, of the university’s School Refuge, Reverence, and of Architecture, examine the designs of places of On the Cover: The recently restored Walker family gravesite, Evergreen Cemetery, Richmond. Photograph by J. Matthew Cowan; courtesy of Enrichmond Foundation. 2 Ritual, Refuge, Reverence, and Reflection: Landscapes of the Soul Embracing Indigenous Knowledge Systems: “layer.” (Authors of landscape The Spiritual Dimensions of Place assessments and cultural- e inhabit and traverse many landscapes in a heritage reports are prone to lifetime. We learn to love the land, connect this oversight, albeit gen- to it, and belong. And those who are lucky erally without malice.) To enough to know their surroundings well may compartmentalize a spiritual even learn to feel part of them. But do we ever understanding of the land, Wtruly know the essence of a landscape – its soul and its spirit? reducing it to its own cat- Are we ever an integral part of a landscape system, or do we egory of knowledge, is to dis- merely scrape the surface as passengers through it? I write regard holistic thinking and this essay – as a non-Indigenous Australian who has spent being. All land is sacred to two decades encountering and studying Indigenous land- Indigenous peoples, and all scapes around the world under the tutelage of First Nations living and nonliving things people – to explore the spiritual dimensions of land. are connected; indeed, rocks My reflections on spirit landscapes in this essay are based and plants and mountains on the time I have spent with the Inuit in Nunavik, Canada, are often considered sen- and the iTaukei of Fiji. I am humbled to have been given the tient beings. The stories that opportunity to learn about Indigenous homelands through follow from my fieldwork in my Indigenous friends and informants. I use this moment to Indigenous settings expand pay my respects to First Nation Peoples around the world; to on this way of knowing and honor their past, present, and future Elders; and to acknowl- seeing the environment. The edge the rich and diverse ways of knowing in Indigenous Indigenous storytellers who contexts. In Australia I live and work on the lands of the passed on these stories to me Ngunnawal and Ngambri peoples, where the country’s capi- and consented to them being tal, Canberra, is located. I thank all my Indigenous friends shared did so to illustrate the who have shared their knowledge and entrusted me with their deep connection they maintain with the land. The stories of as in interviews with male Tertiary design students in Teeluk, stories – some of which are presented here. the Inuit and the iTaukei highlight how the land is narrated and female Elders, I learned South Australia, learning about During my training as a landscape architect and in my in their respective cultures, and how such conceptions of about the significance of the Aboriginal culture as part of their role as a professor, I have often felt uncomfortable with the place give meaning to it. sea-ice (siku) realm. Made up coursework on indigenous land- notion of non-Indigenous landscape architects and others of more than seventy types scapes. Elder Doug Nicholls talks in the built-environment professions serving as “experts” in My understanding of Inuit conceptions of place has devel- of ice, it serves as an impor- to students about his Country. All designing, managing, and maintaining land. For this reason oped over the course of twenty years through ongoing inter- tant platform for Inuit to photographs by Scott Heyes. I have made it my mission to expand landscape-architecture action with Inuit of Nunavik, Eastern Canada. My first visit to reach their favorite hunting thinking to embrace Indigenous knowledge systems – partic- Nunavik, facilitated by Peter Jacobs (a landscape-architecture grounds. The hunters are well acquainted with the proper- ularly in Australia, where Indigenous Australians have been professor with forty years of experience among the Inuit), ties of this ephemeral environment. It is named vertically custodians of the land for more than sixty thousand years. was in the early 2000s, as part of my graduate studies. I lived and horizontally, above and underneath, and regarded as an One important lesson I have learned through my inter- with Inuit families and traveled with them on land and sea to integral part of the Inuit homeland. Elders tell stories of how actions with Indigenous communities is that the spiritual document their understanding of and connections to place. the first breakup of the sea ice each year is caused by Nanukul- dimensions of landscape should never be regarded as a I recorded oral histories and traditional place-names; I also luk, a giant polar bear jumping up and down, causing a wave traced how land-based knowledge was transmitted among to form under the ice that generates enormous cracks. The and across hunting-family units and generations. I learned bear’s huge paws are mighty. that the land and its bounty belonged to all Inuit. And on many hunting and fishing excursions with Inuit, as well 3 The sea ice is a highly volatile and moveable space; it fi sh, and other animals. The The Lumauk Inuit legend.