Landscapes: Nature, culture and the production of space

Deriving from a commitment to the theoretical centrality of culture, discourse and practices of representation in the production of social life, this dissertation is located primarily in the field of Cultural Studies. This is also a work about space and spatial relationships, particularly as they pertain to the cultural and material production of nature. Thus, the topic of this dissertation is a series of landscapes; this term is defined as the place of intersection of a triad consisting of culture, space and nature. Each chapter examines a particular space: Algonquin Provincial Park and its production of “wilderness” and natural experiences; the failed attempt to site low-level nuclear wastes in deep caverns in Deep River, Ontario and the political/spatial struggle that occurred there over local environmental issues; the representation of nature and nation in a selection of documentaries from the National Film Board of Canada; High Park in Toronto as an urban, utopic space of contained democracy and hegemonic consent; and finally, the spatial politics of homelessness and urban redevelopment in an examination of the Cherry Street Tent City homeless camp on the post-industrial brownfields of the central waterfront Portlands of Toronto. What ties these diverse spaces together is an attention to the role of culture in the production of space and landscape and the spatial dimensions of social life. As cultural productions of nature influence or at least hegemonically buttress specific spatial productions and structures, cultural politics become articulated with issues of land use. The cultural practices that are examined here are important because they become essential components in the way wealth and risk are generated and distributed, the way people's movements are regulated, the way living space is laid out and finally, the way social power is exercised.