RUcore Resource Object
RUcore Resource Object
PDF-1(1.83 MB)
TitleReclaiming rural character
NameBaskind-Wing, Sharon L. (author), McDermott Hughes, David (chair), Hodgson, Dorothy (internal member), Schroeder, Richard (outside member), McCay, Bonnie (outside member), Schrepfer, Susan (outside member), Rutgers University, Graduate School - New Brunswick,
Degree Date2009-05
Date Created2009
SubjectAnthropology,
Land use, Rural--Washington (State)--Orcas Island,
Land use--Washington (State)--Orcas Island,
Landscape protection--Washington (State)--Orcas Island
DescriptionThis dissertation takes an ethnographic approach to examining the meanings of rural character on Orcas Island, in San Juan County, Washington. In spite of the challenges facing productive agriculture in the county, achieving rural character remains the stated goal of county planning efforts, environmental groups, affordable housing advocates, and private landowners. Drawing from the anthropology of landscape, political ecology, and critical readings of memory and history, this project examines the definitions of rurality in a place where farming and other types of labor have been overshadowed by real estate speculation and tourism. More broadly, this work argues that land management is a highly subjective process that engages aesthetic preferences, popular ecological models, cultural conceptions of property, and concerns with labor and affordability. In particular, looking at conservation easements can highlight the ways in which nostalgic longings for particular landscapes can be elevated to the level of political economic conflict, in which only certain individuals are able to shape the land according to personally or culturally shared visions.
NotePh.D.
NoteIncludes bibliographical references (p. 272-284)
Noteby Sharon L. Baskind-Wing
Genretheses
Persistent URLhttp://hdl.rutgers.edu/1782.2/rucore10001600001.ETD.000051171
Languageeng
CollectionGraduate School - New Brunswick Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Organization NameRutgers, The State University of New Jersey
RightsThe author owns the copyright to this work.