Emily Anstett 11/17 Class Reflection: Liminal Gardens

  I think it is interesting to consider kitchen gardens as liminal spaces where culture and “nature” meet.  Gardens could be a way of returning to a more balanced and healthy relationship with nature where humans enter into a reciprocal relationship with non-human beings.  In particular, people can interact with nature in a place of mutual benefit.  The garden receives care and humans receive food and interaction with nature in a less manufactured setting.  So many of our interactions are obstructed by aesthetics.  For instance, the Great Lawn is a non-natural “nature” that offers aesthetic value, not because of the natural elements but because of the very unnatural elements.  This type of “nature” has blurred our interactions with nature as well as alienated us from what nature is.  On the Great Lawn, it is not a place of reciprocity or mutual benefit.  Humans pump it with chemicals and fertilizers so that it can look pleasing to the human eye.  However, nature itself receives nothing.  In fact it may be a parasitic relationship where humans take the true life from nature.  However, adopting more “garden-like” places, in the way discussed in class, could help to alleviate this alienation and bring us closer to nature as it exists beyond the hyper-manipulation of many “natural” spaces in the world today.  While all natural spaces, including gardens, are manipulated by humans it could be beneficial to consider: is the relationship between the human and the natural space reciprocal? Is it a space of mutual benefit? This way of thinking could dictate our interactions so we not only consider what nature brings us but how we can help nature.  This could also help bring a greater understanding of where our food comes from.  When people garden they may gain an appreciation for food and be more inclined to think of how their habits impact the world.  For instance, if people were aware of the many problems associated with industrialized agriculture they may consider supporting options that are more ecologically conscious.  Therefore, gardens and other liminal spaces could be really helpful to reduce alienation, live in habitus, and alleviate the nature-culture divide.  


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