Session Description: Landscape has a long tradition within the history of geographic thought,
though the definition of what landscape is has differed over time. From
Carl Sauer in the 1920s to Kenneth Olwig today, what constitutes
landscape has shifted, with varying degrees of significance given to the
natural, cultural and political aspects engendered by the concept. The
use of the term has also been used to describing a portion of the
earth's surface, to refer to representation, as well as to describe a
way of looking at the world. While the importance of landscape as a
topic of inquiry has waxed and waned, it appears that there is a new
resurgence of interest. This session seeks to draw together papers which
have in common a focus upon landscape in order to explore the manifest
ways in which this foundational geographic term is understood and
employed by contemporary researchers.
