What would the world be like if there were no places? Our lives are so place-oriented that we cannot begin to comprehend sheer placelessness. Indeed, the place we occupy has much to do with what and who we are. Yet, despite the pervasiveness of place in our everyday lives, philosophers have neglected it. "Getting Back into Place" offers a comprehensive and nuanced account of the role of place in human experience. Edward S. Casey first points to place's indispensability in navigation and orientation. The role of the lived body in matters of place is considered, and the characteristics of built places are explored. Cultivation of place is illuminated by a detailed analysis of gardens and parks. A scrutiny of wild places illustrates what is peculiar to places that resist the impingement of human presence. The contemporary, seminomadic experience of being between places is investigated through a sustained inquiry into the nature of journeys. Finally, the elusive meaning of home-places and of homecoming and homesteading is delineated.
This rich intervention in the current discourse among scholars in the humanities and social sciences asserts the pervasiveness of place in constructing culture and identity.
- ISBN10 0253208378
- ISBN13 9780253208378
- Publish Date 1 December 1993
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 30 October 2010
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Indiana University Press
- Format Paperback
- Pages 432
- Language English