University of Sussex
Browse
2 Jon Mitchell.pdf (229.87 kB)

How landscapes remember

Download (229.87 kB)
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-07, 07:45 authored by Jon MitchellJon Mitchell
This paper considers the possibility that as subject or agent, the landscape might have the potential to contain, store or transmit memories of their past, which are engaged experientially as uncanny. In a simple sense it asks why there are some landscapes – or landscape features – that are regarded as spiritually animated by different social groups, at different times. The paper focuses on the Neolithic temple site of Borg-in-Nadur, in Southern Malta, which as well as having been a site of prehistoric ritual activity has more recently been the site of a significant devotion to the Virgin Mary, who graced the site with regular apparitions, and a focus for national and transnational Goddess pilgrimage. The paper suggests that sites such as Borg-in-Nadur can be seen as palimpsest landscapes, in which memory is layered such that experiential engagements with them draw the past in to the present, and forwards into the future. The paper examines the intertwining of prehistoric, Catholic and Neo-pagan engagements with Borg-in-Nadur, extending Pierre Nora’s concept of lieux de memoire (sites of memory) to encompass the milieux de memoire, or memorial environments, which are themselves also context of, and for, the uncanny.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Accepted version

Journal

Material Religion: the Journal of Objects, Art and Belief

ISSN

1743-2200

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Issue

4

Volume

16

Page range

432-451

Department affiliated with

  • Anthropology Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2020-08-20

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2022-03-03

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2020-08-20

Usage metrics

    University of Sussex (Publications)

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC