ADV42603

What is the relationship, today, between wilderness and colonization, in the United States? This course examines the relationship between US settler colonialism and American imaginaries of nature in order to ask how productions of race, class and nation in US history and culture are intimately tied to dominant understandings and treatments of wilderness. Using a multi-disciplinary approach, we read critical theories, histories, ethnographies and personal essays by native and non-native authors to trace the evolution of ideas in American culture which position settler and Native societies differently in relation to nature and to explore how those ideas have contributed to centuries of violence and displacement directed at Native peoples and groups marginalized by race and class. Additionally, this course investigates the environmental movement behind wilderness as a legal designation and examines the importance of these spaces for conservation efforts in the United States. This class requires students to undertake a personal exploration of our common and different imaginaries of nature and wilderness so that we can forge critically informed, ethical, and accountable relationships to place. For the final project, students will work collaboratively to create and deliver experiential outdoor education curriculum that envisions a critical relationship to place for Indigenous Studies students, adventure education students and for anyone teaching and learning in the outdoors. There will be required overnight field-based trips and several day trips as well as guest speakers.