FOOTMARKS
Both the politics
and the spirituality of walking are rooted in biological reality:
bipedal locomotion is the legacy of our co-evolution with the
non-human. Through attentive walking we get to know the world and
learn to live in harmony with all beings. Wayfaring awakens us to
the many ways in which we are connected to the
universe. Footmarks may be followed by others and this
is the basis of pilgrimages where walking stimulates the
imagination to make connections with past people with the same
values.
At the heart of the
value system of wayfaring is a communication system comprising
travel guides, annotated maps, gazetteers, picture albums and
personal accounts of actual journeys. An interaction with any of
these types of travel guide is a meditative journey producing
'attachments to place' that only the reader can take. It may
remain a virtual journey or become reality in an actual
landscape.
Footmarks as culture
The World Heritage
Committee's definition of 'cultural landscape'
includes:
The organically
evolved landscape
-
A relict (or fossil) landscape which
shows evidence of previous civilizations, with still very visible
features such as prehistoric sites in the Sahara.
-
Continuing landscapes, which retain an
active social role in modern society and are linked to a
traditional way of life.
Over half a century,
the rice paddies of north-eastern Madagascar have become a cultural
landscape. Population pressure forced farmers to abandon cloves and
grow rice instead. The long-term care of the land calls for
building irrigated terraces which have permanently changed the
landscape.
The associative
cultural landscape
-
This shows powerful religious,
artistic or cultural associations with the natural element rather
than material cultural evidence, which may be insignificant or even
absent.
Sacred groves,
protected by religious taboos, are areas which have been preserved
thanks to cultural practices. These areas, which are genetic
reservoirs, help us to better understand biodiversity. So cultural
practices protect the environment as well.
Text: World
Heritage Centre
