SOC GEN M133 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Wildlife Conservation Society, William Cronon, Keep America Beautiful
18 Oct 2016
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Meeting 1: the trouble with wilderness: or, getting back to the wrong nature by william cronon. Wilderness is an idea that resonated in particular with settler societies. Cronon introduces us to the potential danger in society"s traditional concept of wilderness. He points out how 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.
