AWA: Academic Writing at Auckland

Question 1:     

Which human-environment relationships are privileged in Hulme’s account, and how do these differ with the ideas of Watsuji? How are these approaches reflective of their geographies of origin?

[300 words, 5 marks]

According to Hulme (2011) ideas on human-environment relationships that can be quantified gain privilege. This involves viewing nature and culture as separate from each other, therefore nature can be studied as data, statistics and facts. Hulme (2011) uses the example of climate change and how the dominant approach to climate change is one that can predict nature such as weather events and temperature rises. Hulme (2011) argues that this privilege restricts thinking about how humans can adapt and deal with climate change. These ideas differ from Watsuji’s (1943/1961) account which argues that human-environment relationships are different across space and place which determine the way humans interact and respond to climate based on values, history and how we make sense of the world. He uses the term ‘fu-do’ to explain the way the environment such determines human culture. Watsuji developed the term fudo According to Watsuji (1943/1961) culture is on how a society responds to climate conditions e.g. German culture is very different to Japanese culture this is because the way the climate is related to different.

Watsuji’s (1943/1961) and Hulme’s (2011) varied approaches to climate and culture both reflect their geographies of origin. Watsuji (1943/1961) is writing from a Japanese (eastern) perspective and so is influenced by a Daoist mentality towards humanity and the environment which is one of humanity and nature as a sense of oneness and a mutual sense of being between humans and the nature. Hulme (2011) comes from a Western enlightenment perspective that views humanity and nature as independent from each other one which humans master and dominate nature.   

Question 2:

How do the ideas of ‘culture’ invoked in these readings suggest different ways of living in/with the environment?

[200 words, 5 marks]

Baek (2010), Watsuji (1943/1961) and Hulme (2011) all use ideas around culture to suggest different ways of living in and with the environment.

Baek (2010) looks at culture from a perspective of architecture and sustainability he draws on the ideas of Watsuji and the notion that culture varies with climate and so therefore buildings vary with climate conditions. Baek (2010) examines traditional Japanese housing without walls separating people in rooms and compares this to westernized thick walls built to give privacy. Baek (2010) suggests that there is a social aspect to substantiality in the way houses are built and questions the need for thick walls used in western cultures. Japanese sliding doors make climate a shared experience of warming the home.

Watsuji (1943/1961) suggests that there are various ways of responding to climate and living with/in the environment based on history and values that these differences are not good or bad but diverse.

Hulme (2011) suggests that there is human agency in climate and that humans are capable of adapting to climate conditions.

Question 3:   

 “Ideas about climate and culture have been developed through history in order to make political arguments.” Discuss.

• Use two papers/case studies.
• Eg Watsuji’s ideas were developed to defend Japanese culture from colonial German thought – how?
• How does Baek try to redefine ‘sustainable architecture’?
• How does Hulme think we should approach climate change?

[400 words max, 10 marks]

Baek (2010), Hulme (2011) and Watsuji (1943/1961) all make political arguments resisting dominant ideologies of relationships between climate and culture. Baek (2010, Hulme (2011) and Watsuji (1943/1961) all propose new ways of thinking about climate and culture that consider human actions and human agency. They all deal with themes of equality, racial equality, sustainability and changing climate and all make arguments for a shift in thinking away from deterministic approaches.

Watsuji (1943/1961) developed his ideas around of climate and culture to defend Japanese culture from German ideas that Japanese art and culture was ‘barbaric’ (Baek, 2010). Watsuji (1943/1961) claims that European ideas on culture and climate were too subjective, deterministic, single minded that allowed no room for other perspectives e.g. an attitude that Japanese culture was inferior to European culture because it is inherently different. Watsuji (1943/1961) also argues that a European approach to climate is individualized, experienced by an individual rather than collectively. Watsuji (1943/1961) makes the argument that humans and climate relationship is objective, there are in fact multiples ways of viewing climate and that this is varies across space and time. The way humans respond to their environment is geographically specific dependent on values such as religious believes and history of the place and the climate e.g. Japan has extreme hot and cold conditions. According to Watsuji climate is a shared experience rather than individual that climate human reactions to climate are shared. An example used by Watsuji (1943/1961) is Japan’s cherry blossom season which is celebrated collectively with eating and drinking together.

                        Hulme (2011) like Watsuji (1943/1961) criticizes dominant deterministic ideologies of climate. Hulme (2011) argues that the current popular approach to climate change is pessimistic and that views the future of climate shapes human action and does not allow for human agency. According to Hulme (2011) this approach which focuses on predicting climate patterns such as temperature rises and extreme weather events restricts possibilities to how humans can deal with and adapt changing climate. Hulme (2011) compares this ideology to dominant ideologies of the past such as race imperialism. Culture has always been able to adapt to climate and a deterministic approach overlooks human agency (Hulme, 2011). Hulme (2011) compares this perspective to Malthus’ ideas around population grow and predictions a future food crisis which overlooked the possibility of agriculture technologies and contraception which has given humans the ability to produce more food and limit population growth, this is a good example of humans response to climate and determinist can over look other aspects.  

References

Baek, J. (2010). Climate, sustainability and the space of ethics: Tetsuro Watsuji’s cultural climatology and residential architecture. Architectural Theory Review, 15, 377-395.

Hulme, M. (2011). Reducing the future to climate: a story of climate determinism and reductionism. Osiris, 26, 245-266.   

Watsuji, T. (1943/1961). Climate and culture a philosophical study. Ministry of education, Japan: Hokuseido Press.