Ishaan Varma Geography 3 Final Geography 3 Final Essays Essay 1: Throughout the history of the world, the pervasive influence of the European continent and its colonization of the rest of the world has left an indelible mark on the global landscape, shaping not only the political but also the economic and cultural dynamics of what we observe as contemporary society. One major ramification of the institution of slavery and the forced and violent migration of people was the unequal socio-economic power relations that were created and are maintained to this day. Slavery, bringing people from Africa into the U.S. and exploiting them for labor, resulted in a perspective maintained by many white individuals, that of a higher standing than those with …show more content…
This perspective of the natural world argues that society as a whole has created the meaning and value of nature, influencing not only how it is managed, but used as well as perceived. In Spence’s piece, “Dispossessing the Wilderness”, he talks about the politics behind the creation and upkeep of Yellowstone National Park, specifically about the displacement of and treaties created with natives of that land. Throughout this paper, there is a clear example of the difference in social constructions of nature throughout different societies and cultures. While the natives developed that land, and saw it as a home and a place of refuge before American influence, the Americans saw it as a “wilderness”, one that must be kept safe and intact, essentially pushing the natives out to repurpose the land. Spence notes that the settlers defined the value of the wilderness regarding the flora and fauna, thus viewing the natives as outsiders, as practically incapable of appreciating the world around them. This shows how nature is perceived through social constructions, as the construction between the natives and the colonizers was miles different, and with unequal power relations that were developed through the colonization process, …show more content…
Arguing that xenophobia is deeply ingrained in society in the United States, she uses policies that were meant to exclude certain immigrant groups, perceived as threatening or different to the dominant culture such as the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII and the Chinese Exclusion Act. Her main argument consists of challenging the notion that America is viewed as a “nation of immigrants”, arguing that the American identity is not accepting of immigrants, but rather at the expense of and in opposition to immigrants. In Gloria Anzaldua’s piece about “La Frontera”, she employs a more personal autobiographical type of writing, exploring the experience of living on “la Frontera” between the United States and Mexico and how it shaped her identity and the culture around her. She also talks about the U.S. / Mexico war and how the land given to the United States resulted in people living in the aforementioned land being granted citizenship, but still being treated as if they were undocumented and unauthorized. Alongside this, she describes the border itself as a place of cultural diversity, introducing the concept of the “mestiza consciousness”, describing how the border was the location where the Third World clashed with the First, creating a diverse culture of their own, a border culture. The main argument
In the poem Borderlands by Gloria Anzaldua, the speaker connects living by the physical border between the United States and Mexico to invisible borders that exists when people struggle to express their identity. While the physical border separates the countries, she suggests the presence of a hidden border that separates cultures. Experiencing the rigid mindset of cultural segregation, the boundaries people set cause them to lose their identity in the midst of conforming to a new one. She also discusses the issue of xenophobia, creating barriers between cultures. Using two languages in her poem, Anzaldua attempts to link American and Hispanic culture, establishing an example of a crossroad. Many authors also often grapple with ideas regarding borders and crossroads to search for the origin of
Anzaldua’s Mestiza Consciousness can be seen through “racial, ideological, cultural and biological cross-pollinization,” she calls it “an “alien” consciousness…a new mestiza consciousness…a consciousness of the borderlands” (quoted in Bizzell and Herzberg 1597). This consciousness, according to Anzaldua, is born out of the areas (or ‘borders’) through which a person diverges from a perceived norm, and experiences adversity. The Mestiza Consciousness aims to embrace these aspects of our identities, which are shaped by the ‘twin skins’ of language and ethnicity, that are reflected in how we perceive and process the world; “she communicates…documents the struggle. She reinterprets history and, using new symbols, she shapes new myths. She adopts new perspectives.” (quoted in Bizzell and Herzberg 1600). However, this quote from Anzaldua’s Borderlands/La Frontera parallels, and most clearly displays, how the Sundance Film Associations luncheon is the Mestiza Consciousness in action, is “cradled in one culture, sandwiched between two cultures, straddling all three cultures and their value systems…a struggle of borders, an inner war” (quoted in Bizzell and Herzberg
Although written in 1940’s, A Sand County Almanac tells of the woes and problems that quietly haunted that the United States in that time period of rapid expansion and modernization that are still of concern today. Aldo Leopold accurately predicts the loss of wild land and species that seem to have no value except for cultivation and sport respectively. By breaking up the book into three sections, A Sand County Almanac, Sketches Here and There, and The Upshot, Leopold builds a case for a change in thought and attitude toward the land. The first section describes the nature around him. The second describes how nature works and what it used to be. The third, shortest but most important, section gives the value of the land in terms of instrumental, intrinsic, and God-assigned value, and how we should include the land in the idea of community. It the is the well-being of all things instead of just humanity because humans are interconnected to all of nature: humans affect the whole world with their
The language of Gloria Anzaldua’s “We Call Them Greasers” can be used to disseminate the culturally constructed codes and conventions which influence the realities of both the author, and the poems’ fictional speaker. The poem illustrates the intolerant and brutal nature of border rangers as they sought to rid Mexican border towns of their inhabitants. As well as its language, the subject matter of the poem, too, is telling of the author’s cultural influences, which influence the stance she takes on the subject matter. Anzaldua constructs the poem’s speaker, however, to be a person who holds views which are in staunch opposition to her own. This use of clear contradiction helps readers identify underlying messages meant to be conveyed and understood beyond the text of the poem itself.
First, one must understand the concept of a nation park and wilderness. Yellowstone became the first national park. President Ulysses S. Grant designated Yellowstone, as a national park in 1872. The law establishing Yellowstone as the first National Park declared the area would be preserved "for the benefit and enjoyment of the people." All "timber, mineral deposits, natural curiosities, or wonders" would be kept "in their natural condition" (McNamara, 2014). The natural state of the park is a wilderness area. Although wilderness is often taken to mean a wild or untamed area people have held various perspectives of wilderness throughout history. Some of these historical perspectives of wilderness in the United States are: 1."The Puritan model encouraged an aggressive and even antagonistic attitude toward wilderness. The wilderness must be tamed” (Dejardins, page 154). Wilderness was, as an area to be feared but yet an area where one could escape from oppression. 2. “The Lockean model sees the wilderness as real estate, a commodity to be owned and used” (DesJardins, page 154). 3. “The romantic model views the wilderness as a symbol of innocence and purity” (DesJardins, page 155).
In Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza by Gloria Anzaldua, issues of citizenship and identity are addressed with extra emphasis on the struggles those residing in borderland regions face. This is why I believe
In this foreword, former U.S, president Jimmy Carter stresses the importance of the preservation of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as he argues that this refuge is not only the last remain of American wilderness but also a "symbol of our national heritage."Carter builds up his argument to persuade his audiences by using logos, a personal anecdote, and pathos.Carter begins by recounting in a nostalgic way his experience of hiking and camping in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge with his wife. He describes that experience as " one of the most unforgettable and humbling experiences of our lives," to illustrate the wonderfulness of the refuge. Carter also gives detailed descriptions of the wild animals and plants of which he encountered during his hike, saying that there is a "timeless quality about this great land." Upon reading these descriptions, the audiences will involuntarily create an image of the refuge that is similar to that an untouched-by-human-civilization paradise which, in the modern world, seems to exist only in fairytales.
As Anzaldua expresses the cultural and societal barriers of linguistic oppression, Norma E. Cantu references the essay to elaborate on the consequences of such barriers. Cantu splits her essay, “Doing Work That Matters: The Impact Of Gloria Anzaldúa’s Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza,” into three parts, each of which represent the redefining aspects of Anzaldua’s writing in regards to Chicano/a identity. Cantu depicts the way in which Anzaldua’s writing so distinctively represents the issue at hand. “In Borderlands/La Frontera she lays out the tenets of border theory, but it is not just an analysis and exploration of the geopolitical border where she grew up but the borders at multiple levels, class, gender and sexuality, ethnicity, nationality and even the borders we inhabit within our own contradictions.” In expressing the border beyond its true meaning Anzaldua allows for her writing to employ a deeper meaning. Cantu argues for the dynamic and radical changes that Anzaldua’s writing portrays and paradigm shift it serves to the prevalent problem among
William Cronon’s “The Trouble With Wilderness” signifies the separation between ourselves and nature and also displays it through the distant and remoteness of its location, which also reminds us that we our a part of this nature, even though we are active in civilized society. We also forget that one of the fundamental tenets of environmentalism is the holiness of the wilderness. Through William Cronon’s introduction, we can garner that there is danger lurking in the idea of wilderness, the habitat is undisturbed, left alone by civilization. The foundation of this perspective is derived from a human notion, however, it is the most recent display of society's developing interaction with the wilderness. Hundreds of years ago, humanity's perspective
In Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza, Gloria Anzaldua recalls lived experiences of oppression and the matric of domination. She uses her writing as an act of rebellion from her culture that outcast her. It entails Anzaldua and her family’s history of oppression, her memories of their hard work and contradictions, and her knowledge of her ancestry in the borderlands. She calls out two contrary frames of reference, the Mexican and the American, which depend on the dualities of the racist, the sexist, and the homophobic. These two frames of reference are riddled with rigidity and dichotomies that limit Anzaldua's identity. But as each side of the dualities continuously clashes, the line in between where they converge is the existence of
What are borders and what do they represent? In Gloria Anzaldua’s reading Borders/La Frontera, she writes about how borders are all invisible and they exist to create separation and difference. Not only that, but she refers to an area called the “borderlands”; which is an area of “mezcla”. Mezcla is spanish for a mix, and that can refer to the people today in our society and unique areas unknown to the American or Mexican culture. Through Anzaldua’s writing she is arguing that today barrier have been created that separate society and even people close to us. Whether that border be invisible or actually there, language and sexuality are major contributors to the disconnect between human beings today.
Americans today are starting to realize the importance of nature. Over the course of time we grew distant our connection with nature.With technology today continues to advance and automotives that tie in with our daily lives. However, Americans are beginning to respect nature and it’s values just as we did when the Native Americans lived all off the land. Americans are starting to rebuild our connections with nature again to receive all it’s values and to be one with nature again. The viewpoints of our connections between humans and nature are strongly expressed in Annie Dillard's essay “Living Like Weasel” and Mark Twain’s essay “The Lowest Animal”. Even though both these authors show a different view with our
America is truly an exemplary example of a melting pot of cultures, and in “How to Tame a Wild Tongue”, Gloria Anzaldua tells her personal story of the challenges she faced while adapting to a society split between two distinct cultures: American and Spanish Chicano culture. While growing up, the American half of her society dictated her academics, as she was required to leave behind her native Spanish language and replace it with American English language in an effort to achieve success and respect from her peers in school. The Chicano half of her surroundings governed her home life, forming the basis of her personal identity, as she grew up in South Texas as part of a Chicano family. This struggle to identify herself within two distinct cultures
In the article, “The Trouble with Wilderness,” William Cronon depicts of how individuals are frequently making the incorrect distinction of what is natural or not. Cronon begins by describing the myths or stereotypes society has made throughout history. Men masculinity is said to rise in the wilderness for the reason he is left with small resources to survive; furthermore, creating the image of cowboys or people who live in a farm to be the perfect candidates for living a natural lifestyle. However, William Cronon towards the end of his article, clarifies his main argument to the audience that people live in the wilderness or coexist with nature. The lifestyles that people have are natural for the reason tress or other plants are found in our cities just as people would find them in the forests. “The tree in the garden could easily have sprung from the same seed as the tree in the
The nature within the national parks has been around forever, but the history of our parks started with an idea put into action by President Theodore Roosevelt. During the Progressive Era, a period in time at the turn of the 19th century motivated by the need for social improvements, John Muir thought of the idea of the national park system. John Muir started with rough beginnings and by the time he was thirty years old he still hadn’t found his place in the world. In fear of being drafted in the Civil War, he fled to Canada and by the time he returned the American industry was completely different. He noticed the growth of industrialization and urbanized cities and it scared him. John decided to set out on an expedition in which he found his passion for nature. (Duncan, Dayton 16)