ABSTRACT
In the last two decades, a shift in cultural studies has added new classifications of inquiry into spatial phenomenology. These new terms include lieu, place, landscape, architecture, location, and others used to identify social or cultural identities. These classifications, whether rural or urban, are the result of a process by which social, subjective, national, or regional identities are formed. Even rural and urban landscapes as a whole can be understood as markers of specific national connections and, for some, can be considered as texts that are thus as 'readable' as any other cultural form, providing important information only accessible through engagement with the sites. The war landscape can be a particularly contentious place of national identity that can be claimed by competing histories. The traces of war are often the ruins of bodies, landscapes, and cityscapes.
