American Studies 211 - Colloquium: National Parks: Making American Nature
Colq: National Parks
Spring
2026
01
4.00
Kaden Jelsing
TU TH 10:50 AM - 12:05 PM
Smith College
AMS-211-01-202603
kjelsing@smith.edu
National Parks loom large in the public imagination of the United States. They have come to symbolize the greatness of America through the beauty of its vast and varied terrain and the expansive freedom these spaces imbue. While National Parks have generated a sense of national belonging since the creation of Yellowstone in 1872, they have also been spaces of Indigenous dispossession and racial exclusion. Using the tools of cultural studies, media studies, Indigenous studies, environmental history, and more, this course addresses how National Parks have shaped and have been shaped by shifting ideas about the human relationship to the nonhuman environment through an exploration of conflicts over land use, conservation, ecology, and the idea of “nature” itself. Enrollment limited to 25. (E)