ANT204H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Hetch Hetchy, Tuolumne River, Henry David Thoreau
Document Summary
William (1995) the trouble with wilderness; or, getting back to the wrong nature. Uncommon ground: rethinking the human place in nature. pp 69-90. History allows us to see how untouched, pristine wilderness is only a fantasy. We separate ourselves from nature merely by idealizing it and thinking of it as something distant and remote; we do not consider ourselves living as members of the natural world. Instead, we take part in civilized society while at the same time imagining that our true home is in the wilderness (cronon) Approaching the concept of nature (or wilderness) in this way leads to an ultimate separation of us, as members of society, from what we could consider to be our true home. Our real lives take place in a civilized realm, yet we fantasize about escaping from the artificial constructs of society and long to enter into a remote wilderness. The national parks seem to offer such an escape.
