Dec 8, 2023·edited Dec 8, 2023Liked by River Selby (they/them)
Thanks for this. I live in the Puget Sound region. I did a little research on white interactions with Native Americans here for four-part series I did on land ownership and the family farm as a colonial concept: https://johnlovie.substack.com/t/land
Echoes of the gold rush and the nineteenth century still echo. Much of the land here, after being stolen from the Native Americans, was sold to people who had made their money from the gold rush. Many of their descendants still own that land today, and that history still defines the land use patterns.
And that concept of wilderness just will not go away. I cringe now every time I see a "Wilderness" sign when out hiking. It's a raw reminder of who is being left out of the story.
I appreciate your scholarship here and look forward to reading more.
John, I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to respond to this! Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and your incredible series. Thank you for reading!! I am hoping to have more time/energy to devote to this newsletter because I think the subject is so important, and much of the history is buried but, like you said, defines the current moment.
Nods. There is a LOT of not-so-concealed racism in the language around "wilderness," especially older sources that define it as places where no man has been before. No *European*.
I live in the Puget Sound region as well and I'm going to check out that series--I suspect I'll see a lot in alignment with my own (still fairly embryonic) thinking on the subject.
And yeah, "wilderness" is becoming a pretty fraught term for me...I went to a school out here that has that word in its name (you can easily guess which one) and they're currently wrestling with a lot of this. It really brings home the lack of language we have around some shifts in perception that I think are increasingly necessary.
takes me back to the UConn library Summer of 1989, when I THOUGHT I'd be doing something like this for my Ph.D., onl to get sidetracked--and gobsmacked--by Irving's Chronicles of the Conquest of Granada.
Irving has a LOT to answer for: whatever his misgivings, he made up most of the Columbus mythology we fight against.
So, in honor to the Peace and Dignity walkers I wound up meeting twice in 1993 (once in Windham Center, CT and then, on July 3rd at the Peace memorial at Gettysburg in one of the most amazing moments): it might be time to revisit Irving's conflicted participation in Indian resettlement to Oklahoma that becomes _A Tour on the Prairies_: the promised encounter with "savages" never occurs--except for all of Irving's tour partners, who are a motley bunch. I've written on it before--but the waffling requires judgment. Irving accepted the gig KNOWING that most writers had refused because it would involve buttkissing the Trail of Tears policy-makers, but he needed to re-establish himself as "American". & in the process, doesn't accomplish ANY of the things he could have except for muddling things.
(There's also the matter of Moby Dick and Queequeg and Tashtego . . .)
Thanks for this. I live in the Puget Sound region. I did a little research on white interactions with Native Americans here for four-part series I did on land ownership and the family farm as a colonial concept: https://johnlovie.substack.com/t/land
Echoes of the gold rush and the nineteenth century still echo. Much of the land here, after being stolen from the Native Americans, was sold to people who had made their money from the gold rush. Many of their descendants still own that land today, and that history still defines the land use patterns.
And that concept of wilderness just will not go away. I cringe now every time I see a "Wilderness" sign when out hiking. It's a raw reminder of who is being left out of the story.
I appreciate your scholarship here and look forward to reading more.
John, I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to respond to this! Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and your incredible series. Thank you for reading!! I am hoping to have more time/energy to devote to this newsletter because I think the subject is so important, and much of the history is buried but, like you said, defines the current moment.
Thank you for this, and for reading. Looking forward to following in 2024.
Nods. There is a LOT of not-so-concealed racism in the language around "wilderness," especially older sources that define it as places where no man has been before. No *European*.
I live in the Puget Sound region as well and I'm going to check out that series--I suspect I'll see a lot in alignment with my own (still fairly embryonic) thinking on the subject.
And yeah, "wilderness" is becoming a pretty fraught term for me...I went to a school out here that has that word in its name (you can easily guess which one) and they're currently wrestling with a lot of this. It really brings home the lack of language we have around some shifts in perception that I think are increasingly necessary.
Thank you for your hard work.
Thank you so much for reading.
Let me know if you want information on the nimiipuu (Nez Perce). I have a number of resources and can point to reliable ones.
thank you!
takes me back to the UConn library Summer of 1989, when I THOUGHT I'd be doing something like this for my Ph.D., onl to get sidetracked--and gobsmacked--by Irving's Chronicles of the Conquest of Granada.
Irving has a LOT to answer for: whatever his misgivings, he made up most of the Columbus mythology we fight against.
So, in honor to the Peace and Dignity walkers I wound up meeting twice in 1993 (once in Windham Center, CT and then, on July 3rd at the Peace memorial at Gettysburg in one of the most amazing moments): it might be time to revisit Irving's conflicted participation in Indian resettlement to Oklahoma that becomes _A Tour on the Prairies_: the promised encounter with "savages" never occurs--except for all of Irving's tour partners, who are a motley bunch. I've written on it before--but the waffling requires judgment. Irving accepted the gig KNOWING that most writers had refused because it would involve buttkissing the Trail of Tears policy-makers, but he needed to re-establish himself as "American". & in the process, doesn't accomplish ANY of the things he could have except for muddling things.
(There's also the matter of Moby Dick and Queequeg and Tashtego . . .)
Thank you for your reflection here, Richard, and I'm sorry it's taken me forever to respond. It's wild how deep this work goes, right?