Desmond
Morris wrote a best seller in the 1960’s lamenting what he saw as the inability
of humans to dwell comfortably in the confines of the urbane. As a zoologist by profession, he concluded
that we are still very much biologically primitive and are yet to learn how to
dwell in the crevices, cracks and passage ways, dug out of the artificial
concrete, metal and glass edifices that frame the city dweller's life. I have not read the book
but his theory sparked my interest and provided some inspiration for this blog. He likens the
city to a zoo… probably with its
cage-like structures; defining where we can
roam and where we cannot, where we may roam and where we may not or should not (for there is a subtle but important distinction). Like
the zoo inhabitants, we have set feeding times, sleeping times and play times
all contributing the use of the term the “urban animal”.
Prior to these planned settlements, history tells us that we were once hunter/gatherers-foragers of the land- thinking nothing of settling but content with the gifts that nature so thoughtfully gave to us. Pick berries and nuts today? Hunt wild meat tomorrow? Fish the next? A succulent tree root the day after? Manipulation of our environment to suit our needs was supposed to be the mark of scientific genius, to help us, not to cause scourges upon society as some people may argue. Our quest to eliminate dependence on the whims of the natural may have led us to a type of mental colonization...
Although I am not a big proponent of evolutionary theories, perhaps Morris is correct to correlate the increasing “sociopathic and antisocial” behaviours within the urbane with the steady increase in majestic skyscrapers that now block and hover across the city skylines while conversely we lament the cramped spaces that many call home in the city today. As urban populations explode, many have studied the effects of aesthetics on the human mind with very little positive to say about the urban, talking of it as a cockpit of trouble. Even as we push forward through the stages of physical “development”, our minds often still have to play catch up with the tangible changes that swirl around us.
We have long abandoned this hunter/gatherer-utopian sounding lifestyle…or have we? Perhaps how and what we hunt and gather has changed but basic instincts and needs are still present and have to be met respectively…we have simply adapted. The built environment houses both our physical being and the intangible self- our consciousness-which we express in numerous ways. With this in mind, I will present a series of photos and personal reflections on urbanity in action and how our inner hunter-gatherer has learned to cope (or not) with its new environment, both negatively and positively.
Prior to these planned settlements, history tells us that we were once hunter/gatherers-foragers of the land- thinking nothing of settling but content with the gifts that nature so thoughtfully gave to us. Pick berries and nuts today? Hunt wild meat tomorrow? Fish the next? A succulent tree root the day after? Manipulation of our environment to suit our needs was supposed to be the mark of scientific genius, to help us, not to cause scourges upon society as some people may argue. Our quest to eliminate dependence on the whims of the natural may have led us to a type of mental colonization...
Although I am not a big proponent of evolutionary theories, perhaps Morris is correct to correlate the increasing “sociopathic and antisocial” behaviours within the urbane with the steady increase in majestic skyscrapers that now block and hover across the city skylines while conversely we lament the cramped spaces that many call home in the city today. As urban populations explode, many have studied the effects of aesthetics on the human mind with very little positive to say about the urban, talking of it as a cockpit of trouble. Even as we push forward through the stages of physical “development”, our minds often still have to play catch up with the tangible changes that swirl around us.
We have long abandoned this hunter/gatherer-utopian sounding lifestyle…or have we? Perhaps how and what we hunt and gather has changed but basic instincts and needs are still present and have to be met respectively…we have simply adapted. The built environment houses both our physical being and the intangible self- our consciousness-which we express in numerous ways. With this in mind, I will present a series of photos and personal reflections on urbanity in action and how our inner hunter-gatherer has learned to cope (or not) with its new environment, both negatively and positively.
 |
| View of Port of Spain from Paramin |
The
greatest thematic trend and point of reference for my blog entries may be my
bias towards the un-urban for I do
consider myself a bush child, borne and bred (#Paramin2daworld#)- where things
are slower, the air is cleaner, things look greener and fewer cages. Perhaps
your comments will broaden my perspectives. I can see the city so clearly from
my home; perched miles above in Trinidad’s Northern Range (which is slowly but
surely doing a disappearing act…hmmm) and far away from the Port-of-Spain
craze. A small peep from my “gap” tells me many things before I even venture into
the capital: if there’s a building on fire, if there’s flooding in the Caroni,
if it’s raining in Port-of-Spain or even in the south lands. By
virtue of my place of origin, a “here” versus “there” way of thinking has been
unconsciously inculcated but that is the way of humans, isn’t it? To make
distinctions between people and times and places to generate identity?
