ABSTRACT
Narratives of place link people and geographic location with a cultural imaginary through literature and visual narration. Contemporary literature and film often frame narratives with specific geographic locations, which saturate the narrative with cultural meanings in relation to natural and man-made landscapes. This interdisciplinary collection seeks to interrogate such connections to probe how place is narrativized in literature and film. Utilizing close readings of specific filmic and literary texts, all chapters serve to tease out cultural and historical meanings in respect of human engagement with landscapes. Always mindful of national, cultural and topographical specificity, the book is structured around five core themes: Contested Histories of Place; Environmental Landscapes; Cityscapes; The Social Construction of Place; and Landscapes of Belonging.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part I|3 pages
Contested Histories of Place: Colonialism, Indigeneity, and Marginalization
part II|3 pages
Environmental Landscapes: Constructing and Consuming Nature
part III|3 pages
Cityscapes: Movements, Ideology, and Discourse
chapter 7|14 pages
The Country, the City, the Sea, and Girls with Green Eyes
chapter 9|14 pages
The Dao of the East-West City
part IV|3 pages
The Social Construction of Place: Meaningful Imaginaries
chapter 11|13 pages
Vertical Heterotopias
chapter 12|14 pages
Ideologically Charged Urban and Rural Places in American Movies about HIV/AIDS
part V|3 pages
Landscapes of Belonging: Nation and Identity