Wilderness Considered:
A Reading and Conversation Series Marking the 50th Anniversary
of the 1964 Wilderness Act
Sponsored by the Idaho Humanities Council
Syllabus
Wilderness has deep roots in American history and the cultural imagination. In Idaho, the connection to wilderness is particularly strong: ranchers, hikers, anglers, hunters, kayakers, snowmobilers, mountain bikers – people of a wide variety of vocations and avocations – care about wild places. As 2014 marks the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act, this reading and conversation series aims to reflect on how we have mapped wilderness over time, in public policy but also in stories, poems, land management guidelines, and all kinds of discourse. We will consider how we view wilderness today, from the vantage points of modern-day campsites, canyons, and suburban cul-de-sacs, tracing maps that are both material and mythological. Each session will be led by a different scholar and will include a presentation and discussion of the readings for that week.
Tuesday Evenings, 6:00 – 7:30 p.m.
September 2, 9, 16, 23 & 30
Jim Hall Foothills Learning Center
3188 Sunset Peak Road, Boise
This program is FREE of charge, but advance registration is required.
Copies of the two books and a notebook of readings are available on loan
to the first 25 participants.
To register and pick up books: contact the Idaho Humanities Council, 217 W. State Street, Boise, 208-345-5346, or email
Readings:
Michael Lewis, ed., American Wilderness: A New History. New York: Oxford UP, 2007.
Pete Fromm, Indian Creek Chronicles: A Winter Alone in the Wilderness. Picador Press, 2003.
A binder of selected readings.
1. Tuesday, September 2: Wilderness Imagined – Discussion led by Lisa Brady, History Department, Boise State University
How has wilderness been imagined in the past, in the context of American history? How does it inform our sense of national and individual identity? What kind of mythology does wilderness offer?
William Bradford, “Errand into the Wilderness” –in binder
Henry David Thoreau, “Walking” –in binder
John Muir, “The Wild Parks and Forest Reservations of the West” --in binder
Michael Lewis, “American Wilderness: An Introduction,” in Lewis, 3-14.
Melanie Perreault, “American Wilderness and First Contact,” in Lewis, 15-34.
Mark Stoll, “Religion ‘Irradiates’ the Wilderness,” in Lewis, 35-54.
2. Tuesday, September 9: Wilderness Pursued – Discussion led by Scott Knickerbocker, English Department, College of Idaho
How do we, as humans, engage with wilderness? How do we come to know it through observing, hunting, fishing, etc.? What do these literary pieces suggest about the relationship between humans and the wild?
Sarah Orne Jewett, “A White Heron” –in binder
Theodore Roosevelt, “Wilderness Reserves: Yellowstone Park” –in binder
Ernest Hemingway, “Big Two-Hearted River” –in binder
Elizabeth Bishop, “The Fish” –in binder
Bradley P. Dean, “Natural History, Romanticism, and Thoreau,” in Lewis, 73-90.
Angela Miller, “The Fate of Wilderness in American Landscape Art: The Dilemmas of ‘Nature’s Nation’,” in Lewis, 91-112.
3. Tuesday, September 16: Wilderness Framed – Discussion led by Rocky Barker, Idaho Statesman Environment Reporter
How has wilderness been defined legally over time, and how has management been affected by legislation and public policy? What kind of framework for wilderness does the Wilderness Act of 1964 establish? How have the National Park Service, the Forest Service, and other agencies designed the public’s wilderness experience?
Aldo Leopold, “Wilderness as a Form of Land Use” –in binder
Wallace Stegner, “The Wilderness Letter”--in binder
The Wilderness Act of 1964 –in binder
Benjamin Johnson, “Wilderness Parks and Their Discontents,” in Lewis, 113-130.
Char Miller, “A Sylvan Prospect: John Muir, Gifford Pinchot, and Early Twentieth-Century Conservationism,” in Lewis, 131-148.
Paul Sutter, “Putting Wilderness in Context: The Interwar Origins of the Modern Wilderness Idea,” in Lewis, 167-186.
Mark Harvey, “Loving the Wild in Postwar America,” in Lewis, 187-204.
Howard Zahniser, “The Need for Wilderness Areas” –in binder
4. Tuesday, September 23: Wilderness Guarded –Discussion led by Jenny Emery Davidson, Department of English, College of Southern Idaho
What does it mean, on a personal level, to go into the wilderness? How do certain scientific goals and ideas for wilderness – such as salmon restoration, as described in this book – play out on the ground?
Pete Fromm, Indian Creek Chronicles: A Winter Alone in the Wilderness
5. Tuesday, September 30: Wilderness Brought Home – Discussion led by John Freemuth, Department of Political Science, Boise State University
How is wilderness mapped in Idaho today?
Owyhee Initiative Agreement (http://www.owyheeinitiative.org/agreement.htm)
Boulder-White Clouds Monument Issue (http://www.wildwhiteclouds.org/about_wilderness.html)
James Morton Turner, “The Politics of Modern Wilderness,” in Lewis, 243-262.
Donald Worster, “Epilogue: Nature, Liberty, and Equality,” in Lewis, 263-272.
For more information, contact the Idaho Humanities Council
at 208-345-5346,
or email