Navigating confluences: revisiting the meaning of "wilderness experience"

Abstract

Concepts of wilderness and “wilderness experience” merge into a grand or metanarrative that describes how “wilderness experience” is and provides a normalized reference point for values, beliefs, actions, and choices. This paper engages and juxtaposes critiques by scholars and authors representing nondominant perspectives with the North American, wilderness metanarrative. The bricolage analysis develops a repleteness of interpretation, feeds new visions from the margin to the center, and enhances a particular style of ethical discourse.

Parent Publication

• Wilderness science in a time of change conference-Volume 2: Wilderness within the context of larger systems; 1999 May 23-27; Missoula, MT

Citation

Fox, Karen M. 2000. Navigating confluences: revisiting the meaning of "wilderness experience". In: McCool, Stephen F.; Cole, David N.; Borrie, William T.; O’Loughlin, Jennifer, comps. 2000. Wilderness science in a time of change conference—Volume 2: Wilderness within the context of larger systems; 1999 May 23–27; Missoula, MT. Proceedings RMRS-P-15-VOL-2. Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 49-58