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The machine or the garden: Semiotics and the American yard

  • Elizabeth C. Hirschman EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: July 17, 2015

Abstract

Around 10,000 BC, rapid global warming led to the development of agriculture, sedentary life, and the long distance transport of goods, services, and knowledge – the precursors of contemporary civilization. Concurrent with these events arose the utilitarian philosophy that the natural world should be exploited for material advancement and that parcels of land could be privately owned and developed. This practice continues to the present day through individual ownership of houses and their surrounding yards. Interviews with American homeowners can provide semiotic insights into how the land under their direct ownership is viewed. Findings lead along a complex trail of images suggesting that the relationship between humans and nature is deeply conflicted. Tracing this relationship back in time through various philosophical positions regarding nature suggests that humans may not be ideologically committed to environmental preservation.

Appendix 1: Yard project protocol

Walk through the yard with the interviewee and look at different areas. Ask him or her to “tell me about your yard”

Take notes or tape record what she/he says. Ask permission to take pictures of areas in the yard.

Specifically ask:

  1. How long have you lived at this house?

  2. What did the yard look like when you moved here?

  3. What changes have you made?

  4. Are there things you would still like to do?

  5. What is your favorite part of the yard?

  6. What part of the yard do you like least?

  7. If you could change your yard in any way, what would you do?

  8. How are the seasons different in your yard – winter, spring, summer, fall?

  9. What do you do during each season?

Be sure to request the interviewee’s gender, approximate age, approximate education/profession, ethnicity, country of origin, and marital status.

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Published Online: 2015-7-17
Published in Print: 2015-10-1

©2015 by De Gruyter Mouton

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  3. Making meaning in women’s spiritual autobiography: Language, materiality, and agency in colonial New Granada
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  17. The machine or the garden: Semiotics and the American yard
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  26. Discourse analysis with Peirce? Making sense of discursive regularities: The case of online university prospectuses
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