Pathways as Expressions of Cultural Landscape

Pathways, such as portages, trails and roads, are an excellent representation of the ongoing process of accretion of layers of meaning in a cultural landscape. Over time, the appearance and meaning of paths change in response to natural and cultural cycles. Layers of meaning shift in their tangibility, in part depending on the perspective of who is remembering or interpreting the land.

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Nature says stop - a winter trail awaits the snowfall

 

What paths are chosen, and worn down as regular tracks, will reflect tenure relations and, therefore, the social geography of a community. Paths reveal how people relate to the land, and one another; they reveal how people learn about the land and from the land. The pdf article discusses these issues using examples from Zimbabwe, Pikangikum and Toronto.