ROAD

ROAD

In the material sense, a strip of land intended for travelling, a transport route connecting place A with place B.

Road variants include, for instance, paths, streets, motorways. Roads in this sense are the subject of research of the geography of transport. Roads mark the topography, perform various functions (communication, transport, recreation, representation). In a metaphorical sense, a road can mean a life lived in a specific way or according to an accepted philosophy (in China one of the philosophical traditions is called Dao – a path). It means a method of carrying out tasks and accomplishing objectives in accordance with a set model of conduct. A road can also figuratively mean choosing or fitting in a hierarchy of importance, dependencies and obedience (e.g. following the beaten paths). The term understood in this way constitutes the basis for the concepts developed on the basis of landscape anthropology, phenomenology of landscape (space), it is connected with the notion of the route (de Certeau), the notions of place, neighbourhood (Buczyńska-Garewicz). According to Baudrillard, a road (as opposed to the post-humanistic motorway) has a humanistic dimension.

In anthropological and phenomenological concepts, the road is a trace left by man enabling and conditioning topographic experience. Being on the road, which is the opposite of staying in a place (of residence), is a way of getting to know and feeling the area, bestowing and reading meanings. A network of roads (roads and paths) creates an area understood as a collection of places: following roads or finding a road (Ingold) means that we remain within a known area where we do not need a map, although we can create a “mental map” of it, rich in impressions, memories of events and people, together with stories about them. When finding the road, we follow our experiences rather than points on the map. There are no places without roads where people come and go. There is also no road without places that determine the destination of the journey and the starting point. Pathways and roads are the effect of wanderings: they intersect, converge, pass, etc., creating a specific pattern according to which people move, but also determine the directions of possible wanderings. The activity of the whole community and even generations is embedded in this network. For Ingold, the road is synonymous with moving around the world. Moving around it, wandering, travelling is an element of a process that allows to distinguish an aesthetic landscape (the view) from a topographic landscape (the space). The road makes it possible to change the location, i.e. to abandon the lookout point and enter the surrounding area, enter the landscape. The landscape is only fully experienced if we live and move in it. Thus, as Bachelard states, it enters our “muscular memory”.

[M. G., B. F.]

Literature:

Baudrillard, Jean. America, London: Verso, 1989.

Buczyńska-Garewicz, Hanna. Miejsca, strony, okolice. Przyczynek do fenomenologii przestrzeni. Kraków: Universitas, 2006.

Certeau, Michel de. L’invention du quodientien, tomeI. Arts de faire. Paris : Editions Gallinard, 1990.

Ingold, Tim. The temporality of the landscape, “World Archeology” 1993, vol. 25, 2.

Ingold, Tim. The Perception of Environment: Essays on Livelihood, Dwelling and Skill. London: Routledge, 2000.