Canal of St. Bartholomew in Seča/Sezza: Social construction of the seascape

Abstract

This article is based on a combination of anthropological and geographic approaches to seascape as an aspect of the cultural landscape. Following McCall Howard, Wickham-Jones, Ingold, and Arnason, we understand the term seascape as a “holistic term to describe the depth and complexity of human relations with the sea, the modes of human habitation of the sea, the importance of the sea to maintaining livelihoods, and the connections between land and sea.” We analyze the cartographic materials chronologically from the Franziscean Cadaster to present day and determine how the use of the Canal of St. Bartholomew has changed through time. Once a part of saltpans, providing salt water for salt production and a transport route, it is now a scenic place for leisure and a protected area. As a part of the Sečovlje Salina Nature Park, the canal was poorly managed and is now a liminal site of nonregulated berths for pleasure vessels. For these reasons, this contested seascape is represented as “Texas,” an ecological disgrace, and a boat cemetery. This area is used for many contested activities, which at the same time contribute to environmental vulnerabilities and the destruction of natural and cultural heritage.

Keywords

• canal of st. bartholomew
• seascape
• contestation
• liminality
• geography
• anthropology
• land use