Landscape mythology and anthropology of landscape (Landschaftsmythologie, Landschaftsethnologie) are terms for a field of study advocated since about 1990 by Kurt Derungs (born 1962 in
St. Gallen,
Switzerland). Derungs describes the field as an interdisciplinary approach to
landscape combining
archaeology,
ethnology and
mythology.
Derungs interprets landscape features in terms of "
totemism,
shamanism and
matriarchal mythology", claiming that his approach qualifies as neither
esotericism nor as
positivism but as a "sound alternative" to both. His interpretations are strongly influenced by the hypothesis of a
matriarchal structure of society and a cult of the
Great Goddess in
Neolithic Europe, and he associates
megalithic monuments and elements of traditional
fairy tales with these ideas.
Since 1994, Derungs manages the edition amalia publishing house, where his books appear besides publications on related topics (matriarchy, Great Goddess) by other authors. Derungs is popular in
German Neopagan circles, but has received little attention in academic literature.[1]
Bibliography
AMALIA oder Der Vogel der Wahrheit. Mythen und Märchen aus Rätien im Kulturvergleich. Bündner Monatsblatt Verlag Desertina, 1994,
ISBN3-905241-41-2
^Derungs (1996) is mentioned favourably as forwarding a feminist critique of
C. G. Jung's depiction of femininity in
Kocku von Stuckrad, Constructing Femininity—the Lilith Case, LAUD paper Universität Essen, Linguistic Agency: Series A; 474.