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.