Date of Award
2016
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelors
Department
Humanities
Second Department
Social Sciences
First Advisor
Wallace, Miriam
Area of Concentration
Anthropology
Abstract
The 1950s marked the beginning of the British colonial effort to preserve natural landscapes of East Africa for their material and aesthetic value. In order for these landscapes to be deemed as valuable, a very specific ideology of an African wilderness was constructed. This ideology was solidified in part by the growing popularity of literature emphasizing the value of wilderness in the wake of an increasingly developing world. Using romanticized imagery of lands devoid of any human influence, this vision was exported to the Serengeti Plains of East Africa. Colonial preservationists shaped the protection of landscapes strictly according to this perception. The production of this vision justified the evacuation of thousands of indigenous people, most notably the Maasai. In this project, I trace ideology that backed indigenous evictions in constructing Serengeti National Park through depictions of African wildernesses in selected fiction and nonfiction works of popular Western literature.
Recommended Citation
Koehnk, Mary, "PARADOXES IN PRACTICE: WESTERN IDEOLOGIES OF AFRICAN WILDERNESS IN BOOKS AND ON LAND" (2016). Theses & ETDs. 5233.
https://digitalcommons.ncf.edu/theses_etds/5233