Conceptual approach
2.2 MELANCHOLY
2.1.1 DIMENSIONS Environmental melancholia has two primary dimensions that are composed of a range of more specific experiences. The dimensions are ‘loss, mourning and melancholia’ and ‘ambivalence’. They combine to create the environmental melancholia condition (see Figure 2-2 on p. 13 for the illustration).
The sections, ‘Moving on’ and ‘Engagement’, allude to a common desire from different fields to consider forms of ‘inaction’ to be as important as ‘action’ when dealing with environmental issues. Lertzman describes why ecological mourning is important and says that jumping straight into action without addressing the psychological dimensions of issues can have negative implications on subsequent decisions (2015). In other words, ‘inaction’ can be performative (a term borrowed from Elizabeth Meyer (2008)), because it contributes to fostering meaningful engagement with complex issues.
Loss, mourning and melancholia Within ‘loss, mourning and melancholia’ are feelings of anxiety, sadness, sorrow, a sense of loss, powerlessness, overwhelm and disappointment towards ecological degradation (Lertzman, 2015). It is often hidden, subjective, and difficult to gather from someone without a foundation of trust. It is often inchoate because language is inadequate to express it, and unresolved because of “the lack of socially sanctioned forms for sharing emotional responses about ecological issues” (Lertzman, 2015, p. 73).
The following sections build upon this notion by describing melancholy, contemplation, aesthetics, and how they can be performative. Note that the three concepts will be applied to a spatial approach, so although they pull insights from diverse fields, they emphasize literature from landscape architecture.
Ambivalence ‘Ambivalence’ refers to the often contradicting or conflicting feelings towards a particular issue. The degraded object causes an experience of loss, but the cause of degradation creates benefits. The resulting sentiments are often mixed and without a clear narrative, which results in blame being moved around and an unbearable sense of guilt that prevents healing. The internal processes associated with ambivalence are guilt, conflicting desires, anger, and personal contradictions.
What is melancholy? “At the very root of melancholy is a loving regard for what is lost, or of impending loss, of an object, a landscape, a moment. This love of loss, of longing…spurs a poignant compassion as opposed to vicarious consumption…” (Bowring, 2016, p. 38) The concept of melancholy recently inspired Lertzman in psychology and Bowring in landscape architecture, but it is a much older term whose meaning has evolved throughout the ages and whose enduring appeal has reached both the arts and the sciences. This section explains a few relevant historical appearances and then concludes with its possibilities for landscape architecture.
Moving on How does one repair, heal and move on in order to engage with the issues at hand? An important aspect is to accept and embrace melancholia in decision-making. Sanitized, overly-positive approaches to politics impede authentic engagement (Lertzman, 2015). It is also considered important that people are given agency to contribute and be creative. Lertzman’s work does not provide these solutions. She gives vague suggestions, but calls to the arts and creative fields for their involvement. Figure 2-2 on the previous page shows a ‘?’ where landscape architecture can potentially contribute.
The idea of melancholy has touched “The diverse threads of humoral imbalances, witchcraft, political inactivity, abnormal grief, romantic beauty and aura” (Bowring, 2016, p. 16). The most detailed account, presented as a medical textbook, was a book by Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, published for the first time in 1621. It was almost 900 pages long and, amongst many other things, described melancholy as a kind of clinical depression. Since then, two directions taken in the twentieth century undoubtedly inspired Lertzman’s environmental melancholia. The first was that of Freud, who described melancholia as an abnormal grief. Unlike normal grief that passes and allows the individual to get over loss, melancholia is “where mourning is arrested and the process of recovery is unable to reach completion” (p. 15).
Engagement The term, engagement, adopts a definition from environmental studies. It describes a dynamic and “enduring process of attachment” [to something] comprised of connection, commitment and communication, that can include all levels of society (Proctor et al., 2018). It is a manifesto to counter environmental activism alone. It argues that activism without engagement might neglect a greater radius of needs, be misguided, alienating, and ultimately harmful to the environment that requires protection. In this context, engagement is the framework in which environmental stewardship takes place. It includes action if appropriate. It assumes that people care and rejects an us vs. them dichotomy that is counter-productive to true collaboration (Renee Lertzman, 2015; Proctor et al., 2018).
Philosophers, Søren Kierkegaard and Walter Benjamin, then added a dimension also relevant to the current inquiry. They described a melancholia that accompanied the alienation of modernity and terrorism. For them, melancholia in a person is accompanied by an inertia, political inactivism, where the person becomes pessimistic, detached and therefore unable to act.
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