Modernity, landscape conquest, and the mobility politics of stilt-walking in Landes region, France

Abstract

Histories of stilt-walking in the Landes de Gascogne reveal intertwinements between mobility politics and landscape modernization. Reading these stories through a lens of “landscape conquest” centers the ongoing presence of coloniality in modernity, while highlighting the ways in which modernization produces homogeneity. This process of making every place more like anywhere else is more-than-physical. Universal landscape features, including universal mobility cultures, reproduce universal ways of thinking and relating. This depauperation enables the continual conquest of natural, cultural, epistemological, and phenomenological diversity. Conversely, landscape diversification, including the diversification of mobility cultures, could support abundant futures.