I'd like to use this thread to try to do justice to a term oft' heard in the halls of the Natural Resources Institute, U of Manitoba: I am beginning to realize the potential of "learning journeys" as a powerful way to study cultural landscapes. Conceived as a way to talk about Anishinaabe perception of their environment (see reference at bottom) and further developed by NRI masters student Jane Driedger, the method focuses on moving through a landscape, and documenting teachings and stories told at particular sites by Elders or knowledgeable persons. Because the emphasis is on traveling, learning journeys tend to create meaning through the process of following paths and focusing on linking teachings together on the landscape. These journeys can develop into rich sets of data accompanied through the use of mapping, audio or video recordings, and photography to create multi-media representations of these journeys. Learning journeys can be further adapted to transmit teachings to others in a way that maintains ties between people, their knowledge, and the landscape.

I have been thinking about my own experiences in relation to learning journeys (see http://www.culturallandscapes.ca/2008-05-01/timmy-strang-trapline-gallery). The learning process is enriched through participant observation, for example using camps, participating in harvesting activities, and learning how to travel through a foreign landscape, recognizing paths and learning names.

reference:
Davidson-Hunt, I. and F. Berkes. 2003. Learning as You Journey: Anishinaabe Perception of Social-ecological Environments and Adaptive Learning. Conservation Ecology 8(1):5 [online] URL: http://www.consecol.org/vol8/iss1/art5

the term is oft heard? awesome!

After going on 'learning journeys' with elders in their home/land in northern Ontario, I realized that I had already been on these journeys!

My family used to drive through the countryside and my parents would tell me stories about how they harvested crops, or the trails they took to get to their friend's house, or where draft dodgers hid out and how that affected the community, etc.

I think, therefore, that using 'learning journeys' as a research or teaching tool will teach people more about themselves than it will about the landscape they are 'journeying' on, and that's great.

Superjane!
Ok, maybe "oftheard" exagerates things a bit. I'd maybe downgrade that to "heard"... by certain individuals.

Anyhow, this method helps get a some of the intangibles of the linkages between sites in a landscape, and between sites, individuals, and their social networks. Each journey is different from the last in the same way that each re-telling of a story is adapted to the context of its telling. But learning journeys have a distinctly spatial dimension.

Kinda cool you know the draft dodger hideouts! I'd keep watch on these... Depending on the results of the up-coming election, maybe you'll have your own stories to tell.