Longevity is one of the defining qualities of Romansh places. The free running water that continuously flows through community water fountains is a metaphor for the timeless qualities of place. Lynch (1974) refers to these qualities as a sense of time. I often stop at these fountains and wonder why they allow the water to flow non-stop. I rationalize that it would be more of a hassle to turn it on and off, the water derives from an alpine stream and flows down by gravity—so it is not a resource waste, and besides the constant flow keeps the system flushed. Not too long ago, residents used the fountains for cleaning just about everything possible including carpets and farm animals. Even further back in time, residents would have had to collect their drinking and household water at these fountains. One could imagine the daily activities of a community revolving around its water source (Billigmeier, 1951; Schmid, 1955; Weiss, 1941). It is not surprising that the fountains have geographical or cultural symbolism associated with their placement and activities (Cosgrove, 1988). A popular example comes from the children's book Uorsin, known as Schellenursli in German, where the schoolboys of Guarda march around their village fountains during the old Engadine ritual of Chalandamarz (Chönz and Carigiet, 1971).

Currently, the water fountains are a place for people to pause; they sip from the spout, they dip their hands in the cool pool, or they gather their thoughts before they make their next move. I once saw a local dog who had learned to jump up on the edge and drink the freshest water directly from the spout like people. Visitors use and maybe even appreciate the fountains as much as locals because it is their only source of water as they pass through on a hike. While most fountains remain purely functional in their delivery of water, more than a few have become objects of decoration and improvement (see Ford, 1984). Why does the water flow continuously? I never heard a particularly convincing answer, except the obvious—it always has. No settlement can survive without a water source, yet a rural community's water fountain is more symbolic of vitality than a vital symbol (Figure 38). Maybe the continuous flow of water somehow represents something else like the longevity of the village, or perhaps a physicality of time.

Figure 38 – Water Fountains
   
Photo 1, Ardez (Engiadina bassa)                                                    Photo 2, Veulden (Tumleastga)
   
Photo 3, Madulain                                                                            Photo 4, Ruschein
   
Photo 5, Surcuolm                                                                            Photo 6, Puntraschigna

Just as the water fountain is one landscape feature that directly influences the sense of place, there are others most notably the church towers that serves a more traditional landmark function (Lynch. 1974). Every Romansh community has a church, and the adjoining tower is usually the tallest in the village. Often the church is the only public meeting place besides the schoolhouse that can hold all the residents, so it is a gathering spot for public events and notice boards, which becomes a stage (Cosgrove, 1997). Part of the church if not the whole building is usually the oldest structure in town, and refurbishing the church is always a significant community event (Früh, 1932; SIA, 1983; Weiss, 1959).

Romansh places are visually old (see Porteous, 1990; Tuan, 1984 for senses of place). It is relatively easy to confirm because many buildings have the dates of construction and any subsequent renovations written into the outer wall. Longevity of Romansh places is apparent in other visual ways such as the moss on stone fences or the narrow lanes not designed for cars. In an aesthetic sense, it appears as if humans and environment have achieved some ideal balance. Therefore, it is an ultimate cultural landscape because it appears so perfectly natural. The relatively long period of human settlement disguises some of the anthropogenic changes to the environment, and some of those modifications deserve more attention.

I organize this chapter into a description of the defining elements of Romansh places and landscapes. In addition to the material culture and built environment of these places along the lines of Richardson (1974), I discuss the portrayals that contribute to some of the misunderstandings concerning the Romansh. The first of the four sections in this chapter revolves around the concepts of place and landscape. In the second section, I "locate" the Romansh by presenting a regional overview of the canton; examining the prevailing cartographic representation; surveying the settlement patterns. In the third section, I describe in more detail, some specific Romansh places with their different settings and situations. In the last section, I emphasize specific landscape elements that have an ethnic quality and those that signify changes in the human—nature relationship.

Place and Landscape

Place and landscape are two concepts that are important geographical ideas related to my research. The issue amongst geographers has two aspects: first, place and landscape have multiple definitions and interpretations, which leads to the second issue—merits of using an unscientific yardstick (Rowntree, 1996). For cultural geographers, the second concern is a puzzle because the meanings of human experience cannot always be reduced to numbers or methodologies. The inherent value of using place and landscape is that one can ask a different set of questions and inductively create complicated ideas and formulate theories.

Place is often thought of as some form of space. Occasionally, place is somewhere along a spatial scale between plot and region, which are also undefined quantities. I think most would agree that a small village or an urban neighborhood could fall into the realm of place, but other factors influence our perception. Tuan (1977:6) compares place with space and comes to the idea that place is known space. Therefore, place is subjective, and "Place is whatever stable object catches our attention" (Tuan, 1977:161). Others have argued that place is a crucial concept because it can unite objective and subjective styles in geography. Agnew (1987:27) defines place as having three elements: subjective sense of place, objective location, and a geo-sociological setting. The setting is a crucial idea because it relates well to the visual quality of landscape studies and the metaphoric place as theatrical set for culture to play out in public.

Landscape also has multiple definitions, meanings, and in American geography, it is part of the contest between competing visions of cultural geography (see Rowntree, 1996). Landscape is crucial part of personal experience for travelers and explorers, and it allows one to describe the human—environment interaction. J. B. Jackson (1997:304) stresses to see "…landscape as a composition of man-made spaces on the land." Landscape is evidence, and as Norton (1989:2) says, it is both material and symbolic.

Applying place and landscape to the Romansh reinforces the long temporal dimension. The locations of Romansh places are part of an overall settlement pattern that only make sense with historical trade routes, agricultural possibilities, and marital links. Secondly, the meanings of place are linked to the deep social connections especially family and community. The overwhelming sense of time in these places leads to a "forever" quality including language. In all likelihood, most Romansh places have had no other language as they were founded or resettled by predecessors in the last thousand years.

A theoretical discussion of place is important, but so is the empirical description of actual places. In this case, Romansh places are not very well understood by those outside of their language circles. This "misunderstanding" is both describable and explainable to some degree. Recent portrayals of the tourism landscape and popular travel maps with their emphases on nature and transportation respectively do not necessarily locate Romansh places. In the next section, I discuss the regional geography where Romansh places are located.

Locating and Placing Romansh

Nua ei Rumantschia? As a geographical work, essential questions include where are the Romansh and how is their place represented? In this section, I discuss these questions by locating and placing the Romansh in various contexts. I draw on my own experiences, the published literature, and the relevant demographic data. After visiting many Romansh communities, I can offer some generalizations and insight. Some villages are overwhelmingly obvious in their public display of Romansh, while in others, Romansh language signs are completely absent. Public use of Romansh language also varies between places as does the overall vitality of public spaces. The openness of language use that I experienced is probably a function of the individual community, their relationship to travel and tourism, and my own efforts.

Obviously, Romansh villages are the best places to hear and observe the Romansh language, but there are distinct social settings where use of the language is openly heard. A Romansh commune (Vinschnanca or Cumin in Romansh) is both a political entity and a social community with strong personal networks. With some effort, Romansh communes are easy to find, but tapping into the social context is more difficult. In effect, they know one another, and they typically speak Romansh with people they know. As a stranger in the community, people usually greet me with the Swiss German greeting "Grützi" rather than the formal Romansh "bien di" or "buna sera."

At times, I experienced problems finding Romansh language settings, I imagine a good number of visitors do not know or hear Romansh in everyday use. I believe from my own observation that Romansh speakers are speaking Romansh primarily in settings of familiarity such as to people and in places they already know. People and places outside of this familiarity are often engaged in Swiss-German. An exception is public events reasonably expected to be attended by Romansh and/or locals. In some less visited areas, locals greet strangers with the same local greeting such as "Allegra," yet in those situations conversation is not likely. The other end of this misunderstanding is with the people who are visitors/migrants to Romansh language areas. There is an assumption that Romansh are multilingual, so there is minimal attempt to learn the language. German speakers take for granted that people in the public sphere are also German speaking! Because the Romansh are not the focus of tourism, visitors often do not try to put themselves into situations where they can hear the language.

I approach this section as an opportunity to locate the Romansh in the larger context and elaborate on their setting. I organized the discussion into three parts. Firstly, I present a regional overview of the canton and secondly, the common representations of the Romansh as a linguistic minority. Then, I survey the settlement structure—looking at Romansh regions as cultural networks at one scale and finally, the built environment on another scale.

Chantun Grischun

The Grischun (or Bündnerland) is a complex natural and human place (Figures 39 and 40). Conceived as a single politico-territorial unit, the current canton transcends boundaries of major drainage basins and language regions. I think one could endlessly use the canton as food for thought about unity/diversity. Nevertheless, the Grischun is a practical region to study because it coincides with the modern cantonal boundaries of Switzerland, which allows for statistical data from federal and cantonal agencies. This administrative unity is in stark contrast with the Dolomite Ladin speakers, who are divided into separate political regions, and still today, not even an accurate census style count is possible (Poppi, 1995).

The Grischun—Romansh connection is straight forward as a majority of Romansh currently live in the canton. Maybe it should be said the other way around, the boundaries of the canton spatially encapsulate the majority of Romansh speakers as well as the notions of a Romansh language territory and a traditional culture region. Furthermore, the "Bündnerland" is the most common scale of studying the physical and cultural past (Elsasser and Boesch, 1991). On the cultural side, the mythical and structural features of the Rhaetian Freestate and the Bündner stereotype are integral parts of the cantonal geography (Baumer, 1981). For all these reasons, knowing the canton is a crucial component of understanding the Romansh. I organize this description of features that help understand the Grischun into three categories: the physical morphology, the political divisions, and the tourism impact.

Figure 39

Figure 40

 

Mountains and Passes: What type of barrier do mountains create for humans? Any discussion has to distinguish between obstacles that can be reasonably overcome and those that cannot. The issue to ponder is whether mountains are natural borders that humans should respect with their political boundaries. Mountains are barriers for the most obvious reason, they are physical matter that has to be negotiated carefully. I find it interesting that human attempts to build barriers (often in a military sense) mimic mountains such as walls and castles. Of course, one could point out that gorges and moats are also barriers, and marshy valley bottoms can be just as difficult to negotiate as craggy mountain sides. None the less, mountains literally represent the high ground with advantages to visibility and action.

For the people of Grischun, the mountains and passes are a setting of both hardship and opportunity. As the mountains create an obstacle to human movement, the spaces in between are highly prized for their possibilities of traffic. There is a nice nature-culture parallel of how mountains and passes concentrate activity. Anyone who has climbed in the mountains knows the feeling of the wind funneling through the passes. The flow of human trade and transportation follows a similar logic of going through where it is possible. Maybe this possibility/opportunity is the essence of Grischun as it was previously in Rhaetia—a pass state in both physical and cultural terms. A look at the major mountains and passes identifies where this traffic becomes concentrated.

• Rhaetian Alps: "Rhaetia" is a term that seems to be losing favor amongst cartographers. As a term meaning the Alps in Rhaetia, it has a quality that works because it does not require an exact definition. From a geological perspective, the mountains in Grischun have different compositions and orographies. Now "Rhaetian Alps" seems to be an ill conceived term for the mountain ranges in and about the current canton, and very few maps venture into the gray area of labeling exactly where they are located. The most common of those that do is an East-West swath across the center of the canton that puts the Rein on the north side and the En on the south side. An old map at the Rätische Museum labels the left and right side of the En as the Northern and Southern Rhaetian Alps respectively. Instead, it is the heavily glaciated, individual groups such as Bernina, Tödi, Silvretta, and Rheinwald that are important parts of the drainage systems/divides. Figure 39 is a map of the physical divisions showing the major drainage basins and the location of the better known alpine passes.

The four major drainage basins in Grischun are the Rein (Rhine), En (Inn), Po, and Etsch. The largest is the Rein draining the northern and central areas of the canton, and three of the five Romansh dialects are located there. The En flows northeasterly as it leaves the canton and it eventually joins up with the Danube. This uppermost En valley above the Austrian border is known as Engiadina in Romansh. The Grischun has five southern valleys that all eventually drain into the Adriatic Sea. Four are part of the Po drainage basin as well as being part of the Italian speaking areas (Alpen-Lombardic). The two westernmost valleys, Mesolcina and Calanca join together and flow via the Ticino (Lake Verbano), while the Bregaglia and Poschiavo flow via the Adda (Lake Como). The last southern valley is the Val Müstair (Münstertal), and it is a Romansh speaking region. The river, which the locals in Val Müstair call Il Rom, flows into the Vinschgau/Südtirol region and gets labeled Etsch or Adige depending on the language.

• Grischun Passes: The major passes are in specific locations that facilitate contact between valleys in different drainage systems. In general, major passes along the important divides have some straight forward similarities. First, they are traversable for a significant period of time during the year, or in reverse logic, they do not get snowed in for too long in the winter half of the year. Therefore, elevation is a primary factor, but a few other factors are also important. Slope and aspect are two subsequent physical factors that affect pass-ability. In general, a southern exposure allows direct sunshine to melt the snowfall quicker. It is easier to visualize the adret slope along the Julier pass route with a photographic image (Figure 41).

Figure 41 – Pass Landscapes in Grischun

Top photo, Pass dal Güglia (Julierpass)

Bottom photo, Julier Route and Adret slope aspect

On a larger scale, there has to be some underlying reason to cross a pass, meaning it actually connects two places on either side. Many lesser known passes are still used to move animals from one Alp onto another, and there is a legacy of smuggling that defies the current network of passes. Major passes are really integral parts of a larger movement of people and goods between North and South. Today's major passes may coincide with historical pathways or they may not, but defining elements of these passes are highways and railroads that utilize tunnels and bridges to overcome gradient limitations.

The historic connection between Chur and Como stands out as the crucial trans-alpine route through Grischun. This North—South trading route was utilized by the Romans, and even appears on a Roman map (Peutingersche Tafel inside the Rätische Museum). During the Freestate, Bündners controlled Chiavenna, so they profited from both ends of the pass trade and could exploit Valtellina resources. The main Chur—Chiavenna route is over the Julier and Maloja passes that transits the uppermost Engadine. The Sett pass is a more direct variation of the historic Julier route, but it has a rather steep ascent on one side and today it remains only a trail. The alternative Chur—Chiavenna route is to utilize the Splügen pass. Most of this route utilizes the advantageous course of the Rein posteriur (Hinterrhein), and it has to negotiate only one major obstacle—Via Mäla gorge. This Rein route combined with the San Bernardino pass has become the main transit corridor through the canton. This route stays in Switzerland as it connects Grischun to the canton Ticino, which has good transportation links into Lombardy. Designated a national road in the 1950s, it receives federal financial support that has modernized the road into a highway with high-tech tunnels and bridges.

A few other passes are worth mentioning to be more comprehensive (Table 6). Two passes associated with the railroad more than the auto are the Alvra and Bernina. The Alvra pass is only a narrow Summertime road, but the railroad tunnel (known by its German name Albula) effectively links the "Sudbünden" to the rest of Grischun/Switzerland. The Bernina creates a true north—south railroad link, and is advertised to be the highest elevation train pass (2323m). But at a smaller gauge which necessitates two break of bulk points in Chur and Tirano, it does not register as a major conduit. The Flüela, Fuorn, Lucmagn, and Oberalp passes all have well developed roads, but the Fuorn is the only one kept open in Winter because it connects Val Müstair to the rest of the country. Oberalp has a rail connection operated by the FOB railroad, and Flüela has become redundant since the opening of the new Vereina rail tunnel with an auto-shuttle service. Just East of the canton, in the Upper Vinschgau region, is the Reschen pass. The Reschen was part of a named Roman pathway known as the via Claudia Augusta (or sometimes the Römerstrasse in German). A. Planta (1987) suggests an alternative route that used the lesser known Funga pass between Nauders and the Lake Constance region. In summary, there are numerous passes, but their quality for trade and communication vary considerably. Control over passes and trade were a consistent theme in politics, and in the next part, I discuss the political structure of Grischun.

Table 6 Alpine Passes and their Elevations:
Greater Rhaetian/Grischun Region
 

Political Divisions: Grischun's political structure begins with 212 individual communes that retain considerable authority. The communes are organized into intermediary districts that reflect a tension between administrative efficiency and local sensitivities. Most of the political divisions derive directly from historical jurisdictions of the Freestate, while the remaining are from the early nineteenth century. Political geography has a structured way to organize political divisions: using the term order. The starting point is the sovereign territorial state (typically a nation-state that is recognized by the other members in the prevailing system), and the territorial divisions of the state are classified as first order, second order, etc.

Switzerland, like the United States, is a federation where the first order divisions have constitutional powers, so the situation is a little bit more complicated than a centralized state like France. Furthermore, the cantons or first order divisions in Switzerland have considerably more power than in other federations such as taxation and policing national borders. A third level of government throughout Switzerland is the local community (Cumin or Vischnanca / Gemeinde), but it is not always the second order. In Grischun, there are two additional levels, functionally becoming the second and third order divisions, which makes the local community level the fourth order political division.

• Historical: A complicating factor of the political divisions in Grischun is that they evolved under a different political system. The Rhaetian Freestate (Republic of Three Leagues, 1524-1797) was an independent and recognized entity or a micro-state in today's terminology. Inherent in its German name, Graubünden, the region is a plurality, or quite literally a confederation of leagues that are themselves associations of individual communes. Many of the associations originated from feudal and ecclesiastic patterns. The translated names of the three leagues (Bünden) that comprised the Freestate are the League of the House of God (Chadé), the Upper or Gray League, and the League of Ten Jurisdictions (Figure 42). Each evolved in different ways and they had different cultural compositions, but a common feature was that the individual communities saw themselves as autonomous and independent. Using current demographic data implies that Romansh speakers were major constituents of the House of God and the Gray League, but not the Ten Jurisdictions. While nearly all of the Ten Jurisdictions reformed, the other two leagues are more mixed with the Gray League being mostly Catholic and the House of God (Gotteshaus) being more Protestant.

During the Rhaetian Freestate years, the Leagues would have been the first order division. Defining the second order is more difficult as there were both supreme and normal Jurisdictions (Obergericht and Gerichte), with some of the Obergerichte being sub-divided (Pieth, 1982:A2). Up to the French Revolution, the Freestate controlled territories South of the current boundary, which in effect made it a mini-empire. Those lands were taken away during revolutionary fervor, while the French military forced the reorganization of political entities and borders. Local "Patriots" actually dissolved the Freestate before French and Austrian armies arrived (Metz, 1993). A new system of political division was imposed on the Grischun reflecting the French centralized model while retaining many of the local, traditional connections (Figure 43). The organization of the territory into 11 districts coincided with other new ideas about political administration. The most obvious difference is the collection of communities around Chur to form an urban network.
 

Figures 42 and 43 [Maps] Historical and Political Divisions
Abstracted Figure

• Current: The territorial changes in government, borders, and administrative units were a strong jolt of reality, and the removal of wartime occupiers did not necessarily mean quick revertion back to the Freestate organization. Compared to the Swiss city-state cantons like Bern and Zürich, the Grischun did not have an Ancient Regime or political elite to reassert itself. Between 1814 and 1892, the three member executive council in Grischun followed the old Three Leagues as an apportionment model. It was not until 1851 that the current intermediate divisions reappeared (Metz, 1989). These smaller units, known by their German names—Bezirk (district) and Kreis (cirquit), often coincide with boundaries of historical districts (Figure 42). These divisions, second and third orders, play specific political functions in the Grischun. The 39 cirquits are electoral districts for cantonal elections, and furthermore, many cirquits correspond nicely with regional planning levels such as forestry, garbage, and tourism. The 14 districts are similar to the 11 Napoleonic administrative districts, and today, they are the judicial districts in the canton.

As might be apparent from the maps in Figure 43, there is a nesting of communes, kreise/cirquits, and bezirken/districts in terms of scale. The typical pattern is a group of communes with historical connections combined in a kreis, and then two or three kreis combined in a bezirk. Some differences to this pattern include six individual communes who are also a kreis, and two instances of a kreis also being a bezirk. The necessity for some rationality of electoral and judicial organization is self evident, especially the judicial districts that require some level of undue burden for people to access (i.e. no need to cross a pass for a court appointment). While these divisions are interesting, many administrative functions are direct commune to canton kind of interactions, and communes can voluntarily create other multi-communal units for such things as school districts, resource management, and tourist promotion boards.

• Nature of Borders: Amidst historical changes to political structures and territories, the most consistent element has been at the community level. Individual communes have remained the basic level of political life in the Grischun. Even at the time of the modern Swiss state (1848), referenda were still conducted by public assembly of male adults, so in retrospect one does not know if a true majority of the people were in favor of the Swiss federation. This communally based democracy is more than nostalgia to many; Barber (1974) sees it as an indispensable element to strong democracy. Moreover, the communes are understood to be the scale at which the statement people are sovereign plays out, and it is the majority will in the commune that counts.

The borders between communes are rarely contentious and may even promote cooperation. Communal borders follow two regimes: a resource use pattern and a cartographic fill-in the gaps. Communal property includes specific resource areas such as forests (Guaud or Uaul), alpine grazing areas and harvestable valley bottoms and terraces. Therefore, they usually do not need an exact line. Where a resource is divided or needs to be delineated, the border between adjacent communes follows natural features such as waterways and ridgelines. The need to draw exact boundary lines on maps is recent phenomenon, and the extension of borders to the top of mountains follow the watershed rule. Since most communal borders follow physical features especially mountain ridges, the higher order political divisions also follow physical features.

Tourist Gaze: Grischun is one of Switzerland's most important tourist regions, and the area occupies a sizable part of the Swiss Alps (Graubünden Ferien, 1999). Like other Swiss tourist regions, it maintains some traditional landscape elements and jealously protects its share of alpine pass trade. In so much as the Alps are a tourist attraction, Grischun receives a large number of visitors and overnight stays that are common measurements of tourism (Figure 44). Figure 44 shows the imbalance of tourism development. Two elements of tourism in Grischun stand out as relevant questions: firstly, a geography of tourism; secondly, the relationship of the Romansh to tourism.

Figure 44

Geo-tourist: There are also some straight forward geographical conditions to tourism in Grischun. Foremost is the settlement pattern that already reflects the physical pattern of mountains and passes and serves as the service and accommodation network for visitors. The second geographical factor is the site and situation of individual communities that allows some places to develop sport or health related facilities such as ski areas. Early tourism centered around sanitariums, mineral baths, and luxury facilities, which were mainly summer dominated activities because of the difficulty in traveling there. Winter sports and ski areas in particular represent a dramatic change as these outside activities favor higher elevations where snow and ice conditions are best. An oddity is that the large centers of tourism are often the last/highest community in the valley. Currently, winter tourism is greater than summer tourism by nearly two-to-one (Graubünden Ferien, 1999). In theory, this works well with the agricultural cycles where farmers could work with the ski areas (Bergbahnen) in Winter for extra income.

Historically, a few big resort areas in Grischun dominated the tourism landscape, and it also implies a voluntary and opportunistic factor in their successful efforts. Places like St. Moritz and Davos became major destinations and drove the tourist industry and transportation infrastructure of the whole canton (Margadant and Maier, 1993). It is no mistake that the railroad reached these places as soon as feasible. The two administrative districts in which St. Moritz and Davos fall in are the only two high alpine areas in the canton that do not receive special federal money for development (IHG program).

• Relationship: The overwhelming presence of tourism in Grischun begs the question of their relationship to Romansh speakers and places. While some Romansh communities have participated in tourism, the Romansh themselves have not become the object of that tourism—yet. Using the terminology of cultural consumption, Romansh "ethnicity" is not being consumed, but the Romansh are impacted by the linguistic relationship they have with tourists. I liken the situation to a theatre: the Romansh are building the sets, collecting the gate receipts, and even teaching others how to act (ski). They allow the cultural landscape to be enjoyed and photographed and knowingly manage the scenery, but they themselves are not a significant part of the gaze.

The tourist landscape of Grischun is very much oriented to the visitors (Figure 45). Significantly, the majority of tourists to Grischun are German speaking with over 80 percent coming from Switzerland and Germany (Graubünden Statistik, 1999:12). The visual evidence of German dominance is in the signs and literature available. People who rent out rooms in their homes use German; restaurants advertise their specials in German; slogans, timetables, and brochures are mostly printed in German.

Figure 45 – Tourism Landscapes in Grischun
   
Grand-style Hotel                                                                         Trinkhalle
   
Shopping strip                                                                                Wandering about

Tour buses
 

The tourist landscape is so language friendly, a large number of their fellow Bündners and Swiss feel welcome enough to stay. They seek investment opportunities and they make lifestyle choices to live in the Alps. The movement of capital into the region is tied into the purchase of second homes and retirement accommodations, and plays out as a construction boom and probable tax evasion from E.U. citizens. The human movement is more selective as only Swiss citizens can actually immigrate. Nevertheless, the migrant and tourist influx changes the overall language balance even if these people remain citizens of another community. The combination of Romansh and German speaking residents is resulting in dual signage in the landscape; German predominates most contexts as both the most spoken and most accessible to visitors.

Representation

Common visual representations of the Romansh include both a photographic image of the cultural landscape and a cartographic pattern of their demographic distribution. Mapping patterns of Romansh culture would be a useful contribution to those images, but there are inherent problems in defining a modern, cultural region. Not only is there legitimate discussion about what constitutes a culture group, but also the problematic selection of variables in which to represent them.

Setting aside those concerns for the time being, it is quite obvious that the Romansh are overwhelmingly, cartographically represented as a language. This linguistic definition has consequences. The pertinent critique is how to map a language when the actual situation on the ground is dynamic and hybrid; in this instance, a very high rate of bilingualism exists. While I believe these maps under-represent Romansh, they are the maps to be familiar with because academics still publish and reprint them.

Lingual Minority: The Federal Census Office produces an overwhelming number of language maps and many others derive their data from them, so most maps are statistical in nature. These census based maps almost always use a majority/ plurality standard, which means the language with the most speakers in that politico-administrative unit is mapped as the primary language. A common representation is the "Decline of Romansh" sequence where the absolute percentage of speakers is the main variable (Figures 46 and 47 are examples of this). A feature of these maps is that Romansh communities disappear over time because they lose majority status not absolute population. Billigmeier (1979) uses the census years 1880,1920, and 1960 to show how Romansh communities become German speaking majorities. McRae (1983:218) shows the loss over a hundred year timespan, 1870-1970. Krass (1992:) maps the decadal census years between 1860-1980.One other representation is a temporal portrayal mapping when Romansh language lost majority/plurality status (Catrina, 1983:267; Kraas, 1992:311). Ironically, they miss the fact that the number of Romansh speakers is increasing, even as they accurately highlight the concern for sustaining the language.

Figures 46 and 47 [Map Examples]

Abstract Map of Figure 47

Despite other ways to geographically define the Romansh, a historical language situation is the form that has come to predominate. The Lia Rumantscha calls it the "Traditional Language Territory," and it is based on the 1880 census where communities that had Romansh majorities are included (Figures 6 and 46). Chur is exceptional as it is included in most Romansh language territory maps despite not having a Romansh majority for hundreds of years (Furer, 1996). The 121 communities that fall into this language territory also have landscape elements and other features that could identify them as traditionally Romansh (Figure 48). Most have vibrant Romansh speaking cores even if they are a statistical minorities, and some of these communities are political-administratively Romansh as many non-Romansh may not be considered residents or citizens.

Other Representations: Other cartographic representations are less common, and they do not necessarily single out the Romansh. Some examples include agriculture and house types (Mathieu, 1992; Weiss, 1946, 1959). Insomuch as patterns exist, they tend to follow natural regions, so they do not provide sharp distinctions between Romansh with their fellow Bündners. The contrast between the Romansh and Walsers in the Rhine valleys is often presented in terms of cultural differences—Walsers have dispersed settlements and Romansh villages are compact. The differences between settlements may have other factors such as elevation and quality of the sites, especially since the Romansh were there first and settled in the agriculturally best locations.

Figure 48 – History Boards in Romansh Communes

Schlarigna (Engiadin' ota)

Scuol (Engiadina bassa)

Two types of popular maps are worth mentioning in terms of Romansh representation. Firstly, Swiss topographic maps are sold and used in a popular sense for travel and tourism, and the federal cartographers use the official names of places including those with Romansh place-names and spellings. Secondly, transportation maps are popular with tourists and travelers, and these maps include road maps and general maps that emphasize public transport. Not necessarily as a matter of convention, Swiss maps label places with the local names as one might encounter them in roadsigns, which correspond with local languages.

Romansh themselves represent the culture through publications and brochures. While any large expenditure of money is probably associated with tourism promotion, their activities tend to be in German or other prominent tourist languages. An interesting side story about Romansh representation is that many communities have a "History Board" in a prominent public space (Figure 48). These boards usually contain a map, explanations of their local history, and sponsors/advertisements. I do not know the exact origins of these boards, but the distribution seems to be widespread in southeastern Switzerland, including Zürcher neighborhoods, and some areas in western Austria. Besides looking at the historical dates and explanations, I take note of those places that have translated versions in both German and Romansh. Very Romansh places seem to take pride in having the community's history in the local language even though it has questionable impact on visitors.

Settlements

A common saying in Grischun is that it has 150 valleys, and cynics say each one has its own language and culture. In the same vein, every settlement reflects its unique relationship to the resources and their position in the valley with other settlements. In this section, I will survey aspects of the built environment and the interconnected pattern of settlements. The briefest way to generalize over a hundred different Romansh settlements is with the help of graphs. I have drawn two ideal types at different scales (Figures 49 and 50): the first is the ideal valley, and second is an ideal village. The historical population of an individual settlement varied between a hundred and five hundred unless another activity such as pass trade, church, or court was present.

La Val: Romansh settlements show a strong connectivity to their neighbors (Figure 49). In a typical valley, a road or path [A] connects the settlements as it passes through the length of the valley. Some settlements [B] are on terraces above the main river channel, while others [C] are located in the floodplain along the river bed. In this example, village [B] was a Middle Age watchtower site where a small community supported the small military facility. Village [C] has a bridge over the river with a secondary road that leads towards a pass, and a regional cow market used to be held there. Satellite settlements [D] are the exception, and their population is much lower with no more than fifty people. These satellite communities are typically located up a major side valley, but they remain politically and socially dependent on the main village.

Ecologically, the forests [E] can grow down to the river except where the valley bottom soils become saturated [F]. The upper limit of the forest or treeline is around 2100 meters. Both communes operate two Alps. Commune [B] organizes the alp above town [G] and they tax each farmer according to how many cows they keep there. With the other alp across the river, they allow individuals to manage it for a fee [H], which is sometimes used by farmers from [D] when their other alp [I] is full. Community [C] has to closely manage the land above the settlement because [J] is a constant mass wasting hazard. To prevent avalanches, the community constructed snow fences above the treeline and planted new trees along the chute.

The best grass harvesting areas are on stable, South-facing slopes [K] that run between the two villages. Some of the slopes were transformed into terraces. They use the stream [L] as the official border, but farmers from [B] are permitted to travel through [C] to cross the river and reach their field [M] and the other alp [H].

Figures 49 and 50 [Graphs]
*NOT AVAILABLE*

Likewise, the farmers from [C] have to travel along a road through the other communities territory to reach their main alp [N]. Even politically independent communes such as these were reliant on the larger network. Two things stand out. Firstly, these communities were more reliant on trade than their rhetoric that emphasizes autonomy. Secondly, the bigger network is part of the social realm for marriage, which also works to introduce and maintain genetic diversity.

La Colonia: Individual communities are usually very compact but with a strong linearity towards the historic valley road (Figure 50). Both the [old road] and the axis of the village conform to the natural contours of the valley side. As a generalized model, the ideal village is on the North side of the river where a side valley [creek] flows into the main river. The south facing slope where the village and adjacent fields [C] lie receives maximum sunlight, and snow melts here before the valley bottoms. The railroad was constructed in the early 1900s, and a new center of activities revolves around the train station [RR]. The original cantonal road built for automobiles followed the old pathway through the village, but the modern highway [Hwy] bypasses the village.

The built environment of the original settlement included twenty farmhouses [-], the church [T], and a few special purpose buildings. The original roads are narrow and cobble-stoned, and the creeks and fountains flow continuously. Along the main creek, the mill [X] and the many fountains are located. Residents plastered the building exteriors to prevent fires. A farmhouse contained single or extended households and in many areas they are the primary winter stalling location. At lower elevations, farmers may disperse the buildings with agricultural functions such as grass storage closer to the fields. In larger places, a few double family houses are common. Before the railroad and highway era, a prominent resident built a small lodge [H].

The new elements of the built landscape use more land and appear to be sprawled over good grassland. Most new construction is East of the old core, so any new German speaking residents become slightly segregated from the older Romansh citizens. In this example, the train station has become a new node of activity with a restaurant, supermarket, and new post office. New home construction concentrates along the old road above the railroad tracks. These individual buildings are distinct structures from those around them, but they have some vernacular elements that fit with the regional styles. Meanwhile, some are multi-unit rentals that attract younger families and others are extravagant vacation homes that are empty most of the year.
 

Romansh Regions and Landscapes (due to image file sizes, Chapter 4 is divided into two parts)

The majority of all Romansh communities fall into well-defined regions of one sort or another. The physical and confessional divides play an important role, but the relationship to agriculture and tourism is the harbinger of the cultural landscape. I divide this description into four Romansh regions each with its own theme(s). Surselva is the first region with its strong demographic features and potential for being one of or the only core Romansh area in the future. Nevertheless, it has some interesting boundary questions and seeds of German language contact that could bring about change. Engiadina is the other major Romansh region, but it seems to be going in two directions. In the first part, I discuss the upper Engadine (Engiadin' ota) and compare and contrast two places. Then, I discuss the lower Engadine (Engiadina bassa) and Val Müstair as they militantly preserve the Ladin language while pursuing tourism development. The fourth region is Grischun Central, and it is more of a condition than a well-defined territory. Here the loss of Romansh is quite severe, and the prospect for an invigoration seems rather low.

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