ESPM 50: Midterm 1 review Units I & II

Fall 2015

The midterm addresses material from Units I and II, and includes the following question categories:
8 multiple choice, fill in the blank, or T/F questions 20%
1 compare/contrast (8-12 sentences) 30%
1 essay question (15-20 sentences) 50%

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4)

You will have the option of at least two essay and two compare/contrast questions, from which you may
choose one of each type to answer. For all of the terms listed below, you will be expected to be able to:
Give a definition
Explain the terms significance in relation to themes in the course
Compare and contrast related terms
Give examples from readings and lectures that illustrate your understanding of the term and are clearly
delineated in terms of time and place
You should be able to apply all conceptual terms (i.e., those referring to concepts, arguments, theories,
etc.) to any appropriate historical and geographic contexts in the list of terms or in the specific context in
which the conceptual terms are introduced in the course.


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Unit I
Hurricane Katrina and New Orleans
Site and situation
Site: physical location, environmental characteristics, ecosystem. Looking at a place in terms of its
environmental qualities
Situation: the social and cultural qualities, and socioeconomic opportunity. Looking at a place in terms of
its socio-economic qualities, in specific the socio-economic advantages it has compared to others in the
eyes of the beholder
Ex. New Orleans = terrible site, but a very good situation
Southeastern Louisiana wetlands
Have natural wetlands that 1. Serve as a swamp to absorb water from the floods. 2. Act as a vegetative
buffer for storm surges. Basically serves as a protection. Made up of alluvial soil that naturally sink, and it
needs to be recharged annually to compensate for the altitude loss, and to prevent saltwater inundation.
Loss of wetlands due to infrastructure, expansion, and Atchafalaya spillway prevents recharge, storms,
and petrochemical industry.
Mississippi river runs though 1/3 of country
Wetlands formed by eluvial soils (sediment washed down miss)
Soils are fertile, fine grained, and subject to subsiding(sinking)
Recharges soils through annual flooding counter acts subsidence
Deltaic lopes = at different times (over the course of the last millennia) it has shifted course and continued
to deposit sediment
importance of wetlands?
provide eco servives
natural sump for flood waters
provide barrier for storm surges from hurricanes/storm surge
loss of wetlands = development of petrochem industrial + develop of canals
in new oreleans, back swamp areas (later reclaimed) absorbed flood waters tho
did not protect from storm surges
overlooked by planners by what might have been an integrative water management
instead was only levees, canals, pumps
Levees
Levees are important for drainage and protection from floods. Natural levees along the mississippi river.
Levees only approach creates artificial levees, a progressive water management system. Sugar and cotton
industry led to the construction of levees to avoid floods. Reclaiming the wetlands. Changed the sediment
flow. Use of technology to separate nature and society, led to the development of risks associated with
geography. Separation of nature and society allows segregation to settle.
natural lev = formed by sediment deposited by river, formed basis/center of early settlement, pop center
for early NO (high grounds
artificial lev. = created by french and spain along the river for sugar plantations; caused river to take
sediment past NO
Atchafalaya spillway levee act of 1898 natural basin that the miss river will flow
into during floods and they built a diversion mechanism prevented storm water
from recharging wetlands
began building levees with concrete miss river gulf outlet (to reduce transportation time down river by
days)
destroyed wetlands
became the hurricane funnel
served to symbolically/functionally separate nature and culture instrumental
mentality while not conserving wetlands
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 Historical geography of New Orleans and southeastern Louisiana

o Had sugar and cotton plantations, a lot of slavery. Major flood in 1927 and 1967 led to the flood control
act, that led to the development of extensive water management systems - fix levees, build more. Such
building of extensive water management systems lead to spatial segregation as the white people lived in
the higher lands, while the blacks were forced to live in the higher risk low lands. (A new racial
geography of risk). Levees were used as a way to overcome the incongruence between the site and
situation, and can be compared to a technocratic hubris where people try and control nature.
o levees made it possible to live in such a shitty place
o treme = first community from reclaimed swamp land
o city began with french quarters
o progressive water management system allowed for developement of NO
o reclaimation = 1890s
low lying residential areas
o geography of racial differential risk low income Af Am pushed into lower ground
jim crow laws all non white excluded from being rented property in certain areas
pressure from whites in community for landlords to only rent out to other whites
redlining federal housing systems
insurance companies would charge more to Af Am bc they were in high risk areas, preventing them from
moving out of these high risk zones
Environmental impact of Hurricane Katrina
o 20 ft storm surge
o busted out 53 levees -- undermined by force of water bc desgin of the levee
o much of the city was flooded
o toxic gumbo polluted water ppl has to live in the polluted water for a long time
Causes of the Hurricane Katrina disaster, including historical amnesia and technocratic hubris
o A historical amnesia was also present in that people easily forgoed the situation in the face of other
economic incentives. Also after the 1967 disaster, the government had decreased spending on levees
through a political approach known as "starving the beast". When hurricane katrina hit, the government
and FEMA were not ready to respond, and many of the first responders were oversea. 53 levees broke,
there was a toxic gumbo (cancer alley, a lot of infrastructure damage and inundation. Underrepresentation
of the minority who lack power.
o historical amesia = forget bc we have $ from gov and capital interests that want to get in on the
opportunities to be had and revenue to be made (policical econ incentives)
politiacal incentives to just move on culture of denial
o tenecratic huberius = someone tih techinical level of desicion making, not really democratic, create an
aloof stance to the ppl who are non experts who want to contribute to the decisions
not a lot of regulatory oversite to monitor levees and pumps problems with
quality control and design
o landscape reshaped by human controling nature instead of adapting and
respecting it
o gov not ready for response fisically and state not interesting in looking at ppl in
back NO bc 100 thousand ppl living in racially differentiated risk
Post-Katrina water resource management: wetlands, levees, MR-GO
o closed MR-GO
o plans to divert water from Miss flood wetlands to recharge levees
scienfic uncertainity associated with it bc toxins in water migt kill wetlands
technocratic hubris -- want to go a head with wetland restoration while ignoring the scientific knowledge
against those decisions
o dutch model of levees to make new, better levees
Rebuilding New Orleans: Market versus community based approaches
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market based appraoches -- serves interests of communities, but mostly attracts new capital
attrack new residence, new capita, to transform the city
not resorted worn out broken housing, tearing it down
privatizing school system
processes of developing certain neighborhoods and displcing ppl
community based approach
procedural justice -- ppl in community can have dialouge with ppl who come in to restore the community
employment opp
opporunity for local complanies/busincess
result is more acceptable to ppl in the community
Environmental history
Worsters analytical framework
1. Nature - nonhuman world, ecosystems. Natural resources.
2. Society - the socieoeconomics, institutions, infrastructure. MODES OF PRODUCTION.
3. Culture - learned systems of meaning that shape perception and behavior. Ideas, beliefs, knoweldge,
language, values, norms, etc.
dilectical communitcation btw these ideas
Modes of production
Adaptive strategies for engaging percieved natural limits, and opportunities in nature.
The way people organize socially - subsistence, hunter-gatherer.
A division of labor can be based on gender, slavery, caste based. Technology shapes modes of production,
mechantalist mode of production.
ex. merchanalism, horticulture
Production and reproduction
Reproduction can be understood in terms of biological, social, cultural etc. It is how systems reproduce
over time in terms of core elements that shape the system. Social reproduction can consist of institutions,
economy, infrastructure.
Productions can have implications on how biological and economic systems are produced. Production is
largely sustainable in native communities, but with colonialism, there is a crisis for reproduction.
Goal is reproduction
Depended on reproduction of ecosystems many times for agricultural mode of production
Market based mode of production (for exchange and accumulation) -- crisis of reproduction b/c you
cannot reproduce the system
Monoculture undermining quality, it became diff to reproduce social system without taking extreme
methods
Cultural perspectives on nature and society: inter-subjective vs. instrumental
An inter-subjective approach: active agent working with active nature.
Looking at nature as something to adapt to/with
Instrumental approach: view nature as passive. Inter-subjective is when someone tries to work with
nature, whereas in instrumental, humans try to control nature to their benefits.
Ex. trying to establish more wetlands vs. artificial levees.
Agrarian myth is also instrumental.
Identity and social incorporation
Frames of reference: representation of race in New Orleans, black looters and white finders
Frames of reference: the ideas, stereotypes, belief that influence the way things are perceived, interpreted,
understood.
in a picture of black and white wading through water with food people think the blacks stole the food and
the white found the food
Racial formation and racial projects
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o Racial formation: the socioeconomic process, in which racial categories are formed, inhabited,
transformed and destroyed.
o Racial projects: a process of historically situated projects in which human bodies and social structures are
represented and organized; redistribution of resources based on social construct along racial lines
Process by which racial identity is created in a social context
o Racial products create racial formations
o Omi and Winant wrote them
Racism: ideological, structural
o Ideological: ideal system creating moral hierarchy based on perceived biological differences.
not deemed acceptable in society generally
but subconsciously does operated bc of the way someone was brought up or the place they were brought
up in
o Structural: the racially coded disparities and access to power, opportunities, and resources.
structural discrimination
Race, class and marginality in New Orleans
o Race, not class, determines suffering. Overlap of race and class leads to spatial segregation.
o race is a social construct
o Marginailty - systemic exclusion from power and resources.
structual exclusion based on any number of factors
Segregation - environmental, socioeconomic and racial
o All lead to segregated suffering.
o theses are all intertwined and you cannot separate them
Property and tenure systems
Sovereignty
o Sovereignty is the ultimate authority over a group of people or a region. Although the ultimate authority,
can be fought over, and can be divided in a way. Soveregin is in position to decide allotment, property
rights, sets up tenure system (system of rules governing property rights), laws and governs. Can be the
monarch, or the people.
Property as a bundle of rights
o Property is not a thing, but a thing that someone has the rights to. But the rights come with obligations.
o private
o common
o not everyone has every single stick in that bundle
Control, use rights and usufruct rights
o control rights (has the right to decide how something will be done)
landlord can make the use rights
o use rights (how to use based on control rights decided by the onwer).
how the renter can use the land
o Usufruct rights is a form of use rights based on tradition.
temporary, time and place specific
Legal rights of using something that belongs to another person
Lockes theory of private property (first rights and accumulation)
o Locke's theory of private theory consist of the first rights are established through labor. It gives an
individual a stake in society, an inclusion in the social contact and therefore a citizen. Its the basis of
citizenry. Making use of nature and turning it into something useful, and therefore serving God.
o The idea of accumulation - don't hoard more than necessary, but allowed to accumulate wealth.
o labor is the basis of first rights by transforming nature on eenters to ownership of
that thing incusion of the social contract (bc you forfilled gods will by cultivating
it you can become a citizen)
o natural law
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o right to ones own body

o labor theory = labor is of value, not the value of the thing itself
o protestantism = service to god and the inclusion to society (everyone who is godly and give service to god
are in and everyone else is not)
do not waste gods gift
Property as social process: overlapping claims; collective claims; de facto vs de jure claims
o Overlapping claims: claims for property by different sovereign groups.
different sticks in the bundle
ex. one person has right to live there, but another has the right to sell it
o Collective claim: people in the community assert a collective claim
ex. someone cutting down trees...which has an impact on the community below.
o De jure - is the by the law. and de facto is in fact. It might be against the law, but its with tradition. De jure
can criminalize the de facto.
de jure system of property rights while de facto is still there
ex. indian burning is now illegal, but they have been doing it historically
The American social contract
American interpretations of the social contract: systematic exclusion and struggles for inclusion
o A way to restrain people, Individuals vest powers to the state and agree to be lawful in exchange for
protection that will protect our ability to operate in the competitive market place. Allowed to
overthrow/take powers away from the sate. It is a systemic exclusion, and a historical struggle for
inclusion.
o equital disupution of land as a foundation of am democracy
o focused on indivudualism
o contrains liberity to obligation to law
o based on gender, race and ppl had to fight for inclusion social contract has
expanded
Models of social incorporation in American society: assimilation and acculturation
o Assimilation: to be incorporated into the economic spheres, politics, society, civic life.
melting pot
o Acculturation: to be incorporated by language, value system, beliefs.
o Assimalist, inclusionist (accepts dom culture), univeralist (make dom culture prevalent but keeps their
own), cultural pluralism.
o LOOK AT SHEET
Unit II
Contact
Northeastern woodland Indian social organization: subsistence horticulture / hunter gatherer
o Poly-culture, subsistence, think long-term, sustainable reproduction. Ex. they have shifting cultivation,
subsistence horticulture (corn bean squash), and take advantage of the spatial and temporal diversity
seasonal cycle. Burn the land, crop rotation.
o Women were important b/c carried knowledge of bio reproduction and crops
o Naturally occurring, light weight materials = technology
o Sustenance, but accumulation
Corn, bean, squash horticulture
Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK)
o The traditional knowledge about the ecosystem based on factual observations represented in myths and
cosmology, that shape management practices is developed from ethical values, culture identity, past and
current uses. It is a group specific indigenous knowledge that accumulates overtime.
o Changing of ecology system represented through myths
o Specific/ place-based, held by a specific group for a very long period of time
o Oriented towards sustainability, long term survival
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 Corn Mother myth

o Corn mother myth a mythical represents TEK and is a charter for social action. Describes how natives
should use the land to grow corn. A myth about survival and reproduction, how to maintain it, the social
patterns and ecological knowledge. Shows how indians are actually bound to the earth. Penobscot story is
how earth will regenerate the human body through corn. Production for the sake of reproduction.
o tells how to orgainize society to group corn, bean, squash
o legitimates culture importance of women
o adapts over time
English colonist social organization: subsistence & market agriculture mode of production
o monoculture, accumulation of wealth, crisis of reproduction. Interested in market based agriculture
(maximize value of land by max the productivity of the land), Dont follow natural cycles, use fertilizers
etc. Lockean private property (rise of bunch of fences). Nature viewed as a set of commodities (property
creates the commodification of nature).
o introduced new organisms and grains (and pathogens)
o ended up in a crisis of reproduction introduced new types of plows and found new
ways of innovation, burn perifery and bought the ash as fertilizer, ultimately selling
the land
o laboring class
o technology = metals and animals
o not about long term survial, more about max what you can get for yourself (individualism in the market
place)
Indian and colonial ideas about nature and wilderness
o Indian:
nature and society are one and the same.
intersubjective relationship btw themselves and nature
o colonial:
civilization and savegery. Dualistic vision.
fear of wilderness
need to domesticate wild for gods will
George Henry Boughton, Pilgrims Going to Church (1867)
o fear of the wilderness
Thomas Cole, The Oxbow (1834)
o sublime nature, spirtually vibrate, beatutiful
o juxtaposed of the civilized nature sad bc lost somehting
The agrarian myth
o Agrarian myth is one that is popularized by thomas jefferson about the yeoman farmer and the theory of
property as a basis for citizenship because it is a symbol of a stake in society.
o promoting farmers to make money
o social charter
o basis for american demo - yeaman farmer who transformed the wild to domesticed from lockean labor
o land was cheap
o basis for citizianship
o starting point for policy
The fur trade
Beavers: biological characteristics, keystone species
o Biologically beavers reproduce at a high rate, and have furs that are used for fur hates. They are
ecologically well adapted to escape predators, however, the lodges they build are highly susceptible to
humans. They are a keystone species because they highly impact landscape and biodiversity. They play a
role in the food chain, and shape the ecosystem. The beaver dams they build on lakes allow sediments to
fill in, and once the beaver amabdons it, it will become a wetland/grazeland untill it becomes a lake again.
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 Indian tribes: Abenaki, Iroquois, Huron, Fox, Sauk

o The Abenaki tribe was depopulation and dislocated from its land in the end, changes
in divisions of labor, and succumb to the catholic chruch. reincorperated that way
o The Huron tribe were french allies, and they already had some trading going on but their society began to
be filled with weaponry and other european goods that led to the crisis of reproduction.
large group
became subject to iroquois
women lost status
o They lost to the iroquois who were british allies. But with the fur trade, change in culture. From
celebrating the feast of the dead to the midewiwin dinners to appreciate individual wealth. mainly
hunting. Relied on British fur trade so much that the Iroquois pushed huron out in order to get in lands
with beavers with weapons and horses from fur trades
conducted incessant wars on NA
lost many men to war far
women gain status bc only ones left
o sauk and fox pushed from south Michigan into Wisconsin by iroquois and others
constantly moving and suffering
The fur trade and Native societies: social and cultural dislocation, ecological change, dependency
o The fur trade had a large impact on indian tribes whose culture and economy was largely affected by the
fur trade.
o huran culture dislocation
o culture/social dislocation seen through wars
o econ change seen through fur trade bc the beaver termination
o effect of fur trade was different for each tribe
o all in one form or another fell into large dependency on commerce from settlers
cannot reproduce econ and socially without those items
The Ecological Indian?
The Ecological Indian: description, narrative and implications
o seen to have sustainable ways of reproduction and production
o Narrative of moral superiority 'the indian lived with his land, the while destroyed his land'
burning practices
o effective managers of natural resources
Indian burning practices
o Burning practices were a harvest strategy to maintain the resiliency and diversity of the ecosystem.
Increase primary productivity. Seen as a management tool to decrease deritus, control insets, create open
spaces for bear grass and berries etc.
o Communication
o Travel
o Assist plants in life cycle
Andersons argument: Indian resource management and harmony with nature
o Anderson's argument is that the Indians helped nature along by keeping it in intermediate disturbance
o Enhanced primary productivity
o Shaped ecosystems, enhanced biodiversity
Krechs argument: Indians as ecologists and conservationists?
o Krech argues that the Indians were not ecologists or conservationists. They did not know what they were
doing, and often harmed more than they should have
o Fire got out of control
o Responsible for killing many species
The frontier
The backwoodsman, the yeoman and the pioneer
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Backwoodsman - the antihero who mixed with the indians.

Yeoman farmer is the hero of the agrarian myth.
pioneer is the hero of manifest destiny, a yeomen pushing west. to conqueror am
Manifest Destiny (1875)
By senataor thomas hart benton, the idea of predestined notion that white anglosaxons were destined to
take over north america and bring progress to the land. It is an ideology of white supremacy.
god given right for americans to expand on new territory and claim it as their own in his name
destiny of the white protestant male
Thomas Gast American Progress (1870)
People escaping from NY and lady liberty
Fredrick Jackson Turners frontier process (1893)
Idea by Jackson turner for a new unique american identity. Idea that american democracy was determined
by the frontier. Goal was to push the frontier forward. Importance in the frontier in characterizing
america. Builds on agrarian myth, creates new unique american identity.
calls upon the agarian myth and manefest destiny
mastering of the wilderness and the Am culture a merges
assimilation model that is universalist
melting pot on the plains
New western history: place and process, conquest and colonization, property and race
challenges the new frontier process
replace frontier process with the dynamics of specific places and process of conquest and colonization
importance of race in contesting ownership of resources
about letting struggles of ppl speak out against white supremacy to be taken into consideration in supreme
courts and such
Social construction of Native Americans (the Other)
6 stages of social construction
Noble Savage, Brutal Savage, Conquered People, Dependent Indian, Ecological Indian, Independent
Indian
LOOK AT TABLE -- think about how each stage are rep in art pieces and how it relates to Indian policy
Art and representation:
Albert Bierstadt - Indian Canoe (1868)
`Charles Bird King - Young Omahaw, War Eagle, Little Missouri, and Pawnees (1822)
`Theodore Kaufman Westward the star of Empire makes its Way (1867)
`Henry Farny - Morning of a New Day (1907)
`Anton Gag Attack on New Ulm during the Sioux Outbreak, 1862 (1904)

Indian policy
6 stages of Federal Indian policy
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Johnson v. Macintosh: doctrine of discovery
o who has first rights to property
o person who bought from the brit has rights to sell the land
Cherokee Nations Cases: domestic dependent nations
o vs. georgia
cherokee cheif killed another cherokee and got arrested -->courts said they they are not their own nation
so georgia had every right to intervene on their affairs
o worster v. georgia
Indian removal from the eastern U.S.
o voluntary
o indians refused to go
General Allotment (Dawes) Act
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argarian myth
25 yrs trust patent (cannot rent out) then converted to fee patent (have to pay taxes for)
surplus land sales
Indian Reorganization Act (Indian New Deal)
Federal relationship with tribes: guardianship theory, trust doctrine, wardship, tribal sovereignty

o LOOK AT DOC IN UNIT 2 FILE

Yurok tribe: Klamath river, land loss, forestry and burning practices (not required for FPF 1)
Forest ecology: succession / spatial and temporal diversity
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Yurok forest management practices
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Dates:
1620
o mayflower landed in new england
1689
o Locke published the second treatise
1803
o Louisiana purchase
1830
o indian removal act
1861-65
o civil war
1887
o general allotment act
1934
o reorganization act
2005
o hurricane katrina

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