Aesthetic appreciation of landscapes contributing for national identity : case of Ethiopian landscapes

Abstract: Landscape conceptions impact national identity. Identity addresses the matters in the features of the physical world but also the relationships, memories, and symbolic meanings linked to the physical landscape. Since a landscape's context is made up of a complex web of past interactions and future aspirations. As a result, the intangible elements of a landscape become just as crucial to its physical nature. The dynamics of aesthetics can represent both these intangible and tangible elements of a landscape. In this study, a perceived uniqueness of a location is used as a working concept of landscape identity. Such unique character of a landscape stems from its aesthetic nature. Therefore, how much a role aesthetics play in the created identity through the landscape is well discussed in this research. Two Ethiopian landscapes are used to study the raised question further. Ethiopia is a diverse country with people from many different cultural and linguistic origins. In one way or another, every landscape in every corner of the country has an entangled connection for all Ethiopians. The study's rationale is to use aesthetics as a memory for both these physical and ideal landscapes. However, the study also invests more in the identity and social problems the country is facing. The results suggest, the aesthetical value of a place holds the functionality, the physicality, historicity, and the setting of the area.