Gendered Landscape

 Gendered Landscape

Different genders can view or create a landscape differently. If a landscape is not made for the general public, but for a specific audience that will show within the landscape. It may favor one gender, pushing another gender out of the landscape, highlighting the other. An area may be created specifically for a woman to feel comfortable pushing men out. Landscapes can become gendered for a number of reasons, including social constructs or religious reasons. In many religions women can not be indecent in front of a man, so there is one reason a gendered landscape would be created for them.

One example of a gendered landscape would be a beauty salon. Beauty salons were designed for women to get their hair and nails done, along with their makeup. It is usually a very feminine place meant for those looking for a feminine haircut. If we look at a specific example, like the Sapphire Salon and Spa, in my hometown, we can look more closely at a gendered landscape. This landscape uses feminine colors like purple to add to their atmosphere. Along with this there are photos of women covering the walls, advertising products for makeup and hair products. They offer many treatments usually geared toward women, such as certain types of haircuts, nails, makeup, and waxing. Most of these treatments would not be offered at a barbershop. Along with this if we look at the employees, we can see some gender bias there too. Along the many women who work there, I have only seen one male stylist. This might be caused by the type of hair that stylists like to do, sticking to their own gender. It might also be preferred by clients to have someone with similar experiences to be styling their hair. The Sapphire Salon is located in an outlet mall with several clothing stores around it. If you were to go to most beauty salons they are mostly placed in malls or are surrounded by stores. This is because beauty salons are geared towards women, and one gender standard is that women love to shop. Since this is a gender norm, most beauty salons will place their business around malls or clothing stores to attract business from these women.

If we were to compare a beauty shop to a barber shop, we can see differences in the audience they are catering too. Barber Shops are typically more for men, and create an environment that is more male friendly. If we look at another example from my hometown, “Sports Page Haircuts for Men and Boys”, we can already see a gender bias in the name. The first part of the name, Sports Page, caters to the male audience, assuming that sports are masculine and will draw masculine clients. The second part of the name, “for Men and Boys”, shows that their audience and clientele is specifically men and boys, not women. The name itself shows who the business was created for and who it had in mind. The few times I have been to this barber shop with my dad I could tell it was not a place for me to get my haircut. Instead of women advertising makeup products, pictures of men lined the wall advertising hair gel and razors for shaving. On the tv they had whatever sports game was on, along with sports magazines, and superhero toys for children. Nothing in this shop could be considered feminine, even the employees were all men along with the clients. 

Gender landscapes can have an effect on how we view a landscape, based on how it is created and who it is created for. I believe it is important to attempt to break the bias and make things like this more gender neutral. I can understand a medical center or religious community needing to have a place designated for a gender, but most places should be seen as gender neutral and not what we see here.

Ethnic Landscape Little Germany

 Brazil’s Little Germany Ethnic Landscape 

    Oktoberfest is widely known as one of if not the largest celebration of beer and German culture in the world.    Originating in the city of Munich, many might expect that the next largest festivals celebrating German culture would be in either countries near Germany or in the United States. This is not the case. In a town of nearly 320,000 residents, with about a third of that population being of German descent, Brazil’s Blumenau holds the second largest Oktoberfest in the entire world. This seemingly random outcropping of German culture within Brazil has a long-storied history going back to the mid 1800’s, and it can help show some of the various elements of German ethnic identity and culture that persist with the people still living in that area today. Elements of their religion, their old national identity to Germany itself, the architecture, and the dress and dance are all on display on this colony of German culture in the middle of South America.  

    This outcropping of German society began all the way back in 1850. A German philosopher who went by the name of Hermann Bruno Otto Blumenau, along with a group of over a dozen German farmers, decided to set up an agricultural colony for European people’s looking to move into the region of South America. At the time, the country was really young. They had only declared independence from Portugal a little over 2 decades before, and were still effectively ruled by a European monarch, as it was the son of that Portuguese king who had been the catalyst to declare independence and a new Brazilian empire. Much of the country was still relatively uninhabited to any significant degree, so these first Germans to show up were able to very effectively establish a region in which their own culture would be able to flourish and grow without being pressed in by a local culture they would be moving in to. Over the next couple decades, the city would see itself begin to flood in with European migrants. The rea became one of the largest colony enterprises in all South America. While not every migrant who came in to the region was ethnically German, most were European and at least had some established similar values. They would then adopt the German culture of food, dance, and architecture as they proceeded to live within the city. This helped harden this ethnic landscape into becoming something of a small representation of what life is like in Germany abroad. It is very similar to when one sees little Italys or Chinatowns in major urban centers today. The only difference is that this is on a much larger scale as they take up the entirety of the region.  

    As the German people of the region in these first few decades got settled in, one of the first things they would do is build a church. The church was a very important part of ethnic German culture as they were still from a heavy Christian background. Because of this, you can find many churches scattered throughout the region, as more and more became necessary to keep up with the demand the new population of Christians would place on the area. Additionally, German style pubs and other public spaces are located throughout the region in order to accommodate the locals living in the area. 

    After WW1, South America would see some of the greatest influxes of German migrants ever. Many people fled Europe as they wished to seek out lives away from the great war and saw this little pocket of ethnic German society as their escape. If one world war was not enough to scare ethnic Germans to Brazil, the second one certainly helped push even more of those who were on the fence into leaving the country. These push factors all come with the economic downturn of Europe and much of the world overall. Many people would move to somewhere new seeking out opportunities for new wealth and a new life somewhere else. This is why throughout the entire country of Brazil there is an estimated 5 million ethnic Germans. This landscape of Blumenau is merely where we can most see this presence of German people. This now massive influx of new Germans back in the 30s and 40s built up the second largest celebration of their culture in the world.  

    Oktoberfest is the largest beer celebration in the entire world. It is a 16-18 day festival in which the beer flows like water and there is essentially a traveling caravan and carnival all mixed into one. It will make its way around a region bringing games, food, celebration, music, and dance all together. It is the ultimate culmination of all of German culture in one go. The second largest of these celebrations is held in Blumenau, Brazil. This celebration is only possible because of the ethnic landscape that has been built up by decades of German heritage, culture, and tradition being able to grow and blossom in the region. This product of German heritage has allowed for a fun blending between the culture built up by those living in the area with the celebrations of German heritage. During the World Cup when Germany was playing Brazil, much of the country had miniature “Oktoberfests” for a day in order to celebrate the game between the two countries. Many ethnic Germans were celebrating the great win their homeland was able to secure over the Brazilians, even though they had been living in Brazil all their lives and by that metric were far more Brazilian than German. This insistence on letting their culture stay distinct has built up an electrifying ethnic landscape that will continue to prosper.