Landscapes of Whiteness: Visions of Nature from the 1830s – 1930s
What does moss collecting have to do with the expansion of plantation agriculture? How did the founding of Yellowstone National Park contribute to theories of racial extermination and degeneration? How have museums, botanical gardens, and other cultural institutions facilitated in racial subjugation since their foundings? Ranging from early-nineteenth century theories of acclimatization to the early-twentieth century eugenic environmental movement, naturalists have drawn connections between nature and which bodies figure as “natural.” Rooted in colonial violence and systematic exclusion, many of the fields we consider valuable today—including biogeographical mapping and the American National Parks System—worked hand-in-hand with specious ideas about race, standardization, and perceived progress. Unraveling the long history of environmentalism, colonialism, and race, this talk will discuss the complexities of conservation and the continued inequities that continue to plague natural history. Presented by Elaine Ayers, PhD, faculty member, Program in Museum Studies at NYU.
Time: 0:00 BST
