The article examines the possibility of using landscape motifs on folk furniture as a source for understanding the perception of landscape in Czech countryside in 1700s and 1800s. First, a brief overview of folk furniture is provided as a framework for understanding the importance and character of landscape paintings.Second, a detailed analysis of different landscape painting types and their regional differentiation is given. And finally, a critical reflection of the presented material regarding its potential use as a historical source for understanding landscape perception is offered. In conclusion, it is argued that folk furniture may be a useful source for historical studies but the landscape painting itself has severe limitations for the reconstruction of past landscapes.
While anthropologists have always studied spatial aspects of cultural practices, space, place and landscape were rarely the central topics of their research and writing. Space was considered as passive, secondary background to cultural processes rather than their integral component, shaping force and product. It may be argued that for a long time space was not taken sufficiently seriously as to inform thoroughly ethnographic research and theoretical debates about culture. This has changed and a new anthropology of space, place and landscape is forming, drawing inspiration from cultural geography’s advanced conceptualizations of space while retaining anthropology’s special interest in cultural processes and the evolution and dynamics of human behavior. Of the three widely used spatial concepts – space, place, and landscape – it is the last one that has turned out to be the most difficult to define and apply in systematic research. In this article we offer some suggestions about the possible ways of conceptualizing landscape in anthropology in order to make this concept of a real research value and theoretical utility.
Los Comanches and other cultural manifestations of the genízaro (mixed Spanish-Indian) culture of New Mexico is widely recognized and belittled as a mere hybrid of the „authentic" Spanish, Puebloan and Plains Indian cultures. The politicization of identity in contemporary America promotes traditionalist revitalization movements and the genízaros seem to be caught between a rock and a hard plače, not accepted by either of the politically well established ethnicities of New Mexico. They are denied authenticity and consequently are also denied access to funds which have become available for groups that have made successful ethnic claims and achieved state recognition. In spite of this difficult situation, the genízaro culture continues to live, representing a very unique cultural complex. The case of the genízaros of New Mexico may help us better understand the politics of (self-)identification and the process of ethnogenesis as a response to material and political opportunities created by a state reluctant to endorse a common national culture.
An intriguing element of the Pueblo and Hispanic villages of New Mexico is the Matachines Dance. It is performed on different, mostly religious occasions and requires a great personal and financial commitment on the part of the participants. Where the dance tradition disappeared in the past, it is being revived in the present, and where it continues to be danced in an uninterrupted tradition, it is becoming ever more costly and exuberant. The dance draws on European Middle-Age dance dramas, but it is heavy with indigenous layers of meaning. On face value, its key protagonists - Montezuma, Malinche, Abuelos, Montezuma’s entourage and the Bull - reenact the victory of Christianity in the New World. That is the meaning the dance has for the Hispanic villages, in addition to a number of place- and time-specific meanings. While seemingly identical, the dance often carries a different set of meanings in the Pueblos, symbolizing the banishment of foreign elements and the restoration of indigenous rule. In both the Pueblo and Hispanic villages, aside from the religious and mythical significance, the dance serves to delineate and reinforce ethnic boundaries while promoting a sense of community and solidarity. The Matachines Dance thus serves as a fascinating and paradoxical example of a shared cultural praxis which reinforces perceived cultural difference.