Teaching Labs as Sacred Landscapes
Whenever a place has a set of restrictions set upon it there is a reason behind it. The teaching labs in McMillan hall are no different in this respect. The labs could be viewed as sacred landscapes since eating and drinking in them is prohibited. Another key factor that supports the labs as sacred is the component of access: they can only be used at certain times and by certain people. There are some questions that we can ask that will bring this idea into focus. Who set forth the restrictions? Why did they do so? Did doing this redefine the labs as sacred? Presumably the rules regarding the labs were established by those in charge of the Anthropology Department, but these rules extend to labs at the university generally as well. The rational behind the restrictions is normally attributed to safety, of both those in lab and the objects being worked with in lab. The focus on “safety” at the university is shown in these labs. This focus exists because the school markets itself as being a safe place to live and learn. It can be argued that this value placed on the aesthetic of safety is ultimately tied to the monetary success of the university, because students will be less likely to attend if they, or their parents, perceive the atmosphere to be unsafe. However, the restrictions could also be viewed as less than necessary. Landscapes are an interaction between the space and the people that use it, which makes it particularly important that the people that make the labs sacred aren’t necessarily the ones that interact with it. People lose the authority to define their own landscapes and are forced to accept the state of the university, as it exists when they enter it. The idea of giving up one’s ability to redefine their own landscape relates to the idea that the teaching labs could be viewed as sacred landscapes because if they are construct by one group to be that way, future students and staff that interact with the space will perpetuate the existing view instead of changing it.