Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
cultures have tended to attempt to blend into their surroundings. As Tuan (1974:148)
noted, 'In the traditions of Taoist China and preDorian Greece, nature imparted virtue or
power. In the Christian tradition sanctifying power is invested in man, God's vice regent,
rather than nature.' However, it should be emphasised that Oriental civilisations, such as
those of China, India and Japan, have also had highly destructive impacts on the
environment despite arguably a more sympathetic cultural attitude towards nature and
will continue to do so as production and consumption imperatives prevail in
contemporary policy settings.
The attitude of different cultures to nature and, hence, wilderness is important (Tuan
1971, 1979; Saarinen 1998). As Eidsvik (1980, 1985) has recognised, wilderness has only
recently taken on global meaning with the increasing dominance of western culture
throughout the world and with respect to the governance and regulation of the
environment and natural heritage in particular. The perception of wilderness as an alien
landscape of fear is derived from the northern European set of attitudes towards nature,
where the Judaeo-Christian perception of nature became combined with the Teutonic fear
of the vast northern forests. It is perhaps of no coincidence therefore that the creation of
designated wilderness areas began in lands occupied by peoples who have inherited
European cultural attitudes. However, despite retaining something of its original
attributes the meaning of wilderness has changed substantially over time and now
incorporates wider scientific and conservation values. Table 7.1 portrays the development
of the wilderness concept in the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Australia: those
countries within which the idea of wilderness has been most influential in outdoor
recreation and tourism policy and in the production and consumption of tourism
experiences.
The classic example of changing popular attitudes towards wilderness in western
culture is witnessed in the history of the evolution of the wilderness concept in the United
States (Table 7.1). The founding fathers of the American colonies saw the wild lands
before them in classical biblical terms, and although attitudes towards wilderness did
change gradually through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries it was not until the
late eighteenth century that positive appreciation of American nature began to emerge.
The political independence of the American nation found cultural expression in the
extolment of the virtues of American natural scenery. However, a similar cultural
expression was not to be found in colonial Canada where untamed nature still assumed
the guise of a landscape of fear (Kline 1970). Nevertheless, America's cultural
independence from the Old World produced a desire to laud the moral purity of the wild
forests and mountains of the New World, untainted as they were by the domination of
things European, a cultural movement which, perhaps somewhat ironically, sprang from
the Romantic movement then sweeping Europe.
The American Romantic movement laid the groundwork upon which a popular
appreciation of the value of wild land would come to be based. Artistic, literary and
political perceptions of the importance of contact with wild nature provided the stimulus
for the creation of positive cultural attitudes towards the American wilderness. Once
positive attitudes towards primitive, unordered nature had developed then the emergence
of individuals and societies dedicated to the preservation of wilderness values was only a
short step away. However, an appreciation of the aesthetic values of wild land was
countered by the utilitarian ethic that dominated American society.
