Essay: Place and Placelessness

Historians argue that Americans lack a sense of connection to community and history in general due to geographic mobility, transportation and communication as well as commercialization. They argued that Americans are too geographically mobile to develop a sense of place. Americans tend to leave places behind, preferring instead to live in “a world without ghosts.” Historians contend that our restlessness results in our inability to develop a connection with the land (historical consciousness). Historians state that the problem is further exacerbated by modern transportation and communications technology. The accessibility of advanced technologies compresses our sense of time and space. As far as commercialization goes, historians blame corporations for Americans inability to develop a sense of place because they create it for us.

Glassberg does acknowledge the arguments made about Americans sense of place or lack thereof, however, he does not fully agree with historian’s assessments. He agrees that our sense of history has been created for us. His disagreement lies in the statement about places being interchangeable. He lists six axioms of thinking about place in America. The second axiom reads- places, in the end, are not interchangeable with other places. Basically we make places by preserving nature then we remake places by attaching our memories and meanings to them. He defines sense of place as reflecting imprints of childhood attachments that are further developed and reinforced by the social networks we participate in as adults. This sentiment is discussed in chapter one “Sense of History.” Here he states that sense of history and sense of place are inevitably entangled.

Sense of place did have something to do with Disney’s America failure. Disney’s America was 5 miles west of the Manassas National Battlefield Park in Virginia. This historic region has been valued as being “sacred soil” (Wallace finds this argument troubling). The commercialization of the environment by Disney infringed on land that Americans deemed valuable. This place symbolizes Americans as having a strong sense of place and history.