How does Nature Influence Culture and Vice Versa

Step 1. Modern Constitution A long tradition of seeing culture and nature as separate

Step 2. Ecological View Human is one among millions of species inhabiting the Earth.

Step 3. Culture is Model Culture is connected to the environment and is at

Step 4. Estonian Identity Estonian culture has been seen as standing close to nature.

Step 5. Anthropocene In Anthropocene roles become reversed ‐ natural agencies are very active,

Step 6. Strategies of Survival Technological solutions cannot answer to the question, to what

Step 7. Biocultural Diversity The major challenge is to overcome closed anthropocentric cultural discourses.

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How does Nature Influence Culture and Vice Versa? Timo Maran Department of Semiotics, University of Tartu

Step 1. Modern Constitution A long tradition of seeing culture and nature as separate from one‐another. Nature ‐ eternal and independent of human action; culture ‐ fully human‐ made domain of freedom. Latour, Bruno (1993). We have never been modern. Harvard University Press.

Step 2. Ecological View Human is one among millions of species inhabiting the Earth. Human as every other species is dependent on resources. Culture is foremost an ability to create and modify human ecological niche. Laland, K. N. , Odling‐Smee, J. and Feldman, M. W. (2001), Cultural niche construction and human evolution. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 14: 22‐ 33.

Step 3. Culture is Model Culture is connected to the environment and is at the same time independent of it. Culture is a meta‐layer of descriptions, and images that humans spread over ecology. Being active in culture means changing the environment. Maran, T. ; Kull, K. (2014). Ecosemiotics: main principles and current developments. Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography 96 (1): 41– 50.

Step 4. Estonian Identity Estonian culture has been seen as standing close to nature. This conviction has many roots and many layers. → → → → Folklore collections Nature in early Estonian literature Estonians as „nation of forest“ Nostalgy of WWII refugees Uralic roots Environmental movement of 1980 ties Postmodern interpretations

Step 5. Anthropocene In Anthropocene roles become reversed ‐ natural agencies are very active, and culture needs to adjust and accommodate. Ecosemiotic vision on nature as alive, significant and full of agencies. What possibilities culture offers for adjusting and adapting with changing environment? Maran, T. ; Kull, K. (2014). Ecosemiotics: main principles and current developments. Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography 96 (1): 41– 50.

Step 5. Anthropocene

Step 6. Strategies of Survival Technological solutions cannot answer to the question, to what direction we should move as a society. Culture is a laboratory for studying new possible ways of living. By use of imagination culture can make environmental processes and other life forms tangible for us. van Dooren, T. , Kirksey, E. Münster, U. 2016. Multispecies studies: cultivating arts of attentiveness. Environmental Humanities 8(1): 1‐ 23.

Step 7. Biocultural Diversity The major challenge is to overcome closed anthropocentric cultural discourses. Instead of discussing cultural diversity and biodiversity separately we should aim at biocultural diversity. Cultures of the future will be open to other life‐forms. Culture needs to take an active role in building new entanglements between us and the rest of the ecosystem. Farina, A. (2018). Rural Sanctuary: an ecosemiotic agency to preserve human cultural heritage and biodiversity. Biosemiotics 11 (1): 139‐ 158. Bodin Ö. 2017. Collaborative environmental governance: Achieving collective action in social‐ecological systems. Science 357(6352).

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