Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Idealizing Inhabited Wilderness: A Revision To The History Of Indigenous Peoples And National Parks, Ezra Rashkow

Department of History Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Whereas most histories of national parks and indigenous peoples have largely focused on dispossession of resident populations in the making of uninhabited wilderness areas, this article surveys the problematic history of the idea of preserving human communities today referred to as ‘indigenous’ in parks. In the very first-ever call for a national park, as well as in frequent proposals for national parks throughout the 19th, 20th, and now the 21st century, protected areas have been envisioned as places of conservation, study, and display not only of endangered species but also of human groups perceived to be endangered. Drawing on cases …