Urban Wastelands and the Geography of Nature
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Copyright by Kevin Michael Anderson 2009 The Dissertation Committee for Kevin Michael Anderson certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Marginal Nature: Urban Wastelands and the Geography of Nature Committee: __________________________ Robin W. Doughty, Supervisor __________________________ Ian Manners __________________________ Kenneth R. Young __________________________ Barbara Parmenter __________________________ Richard H. Richardson Marginal Nature: Urban Wastelands and the Geography of Nature By Kevin Michael Anderson, B.A.; M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin December, 2009 The science of Geography, which I now propose to investigate, is, I think, quite as much as any other science, a concern of the philosopher. - Strabo Acknowledgments My journey from student to scholar has been measured by milestones of friendship, opportunity, and mentorship. The path appeared wayward to me (and certainly to others) until the writing of this dissertation revealed the relevance of each seeming digression and delay. The geographical symmetry of my life journey is similarly surprising to me. Begun on a bend of the Delaware River across from Philadelphia in a New Jersey town called Riverside, I now live at another riverside on a bend of the Colorado River in Texas. Rivers are fitting metaphors for life journeys, but, in my case, the literal and figurative have converged to help me make sense of the place where I am today. A similar geographical symmetry holds for the relevance of wasteland in this journey. The vacant lots of my childhood in New Jersey, Germany, and Pennsylvania were the best classrooms for learning the wasteland ecology that I am paid to study today. That childhood poking around was pure scientific observation unencumbered by theory or research protocols, and I draw on that practice as I study the wasteland at Hornsby Bend. Thus, hindsight clears the doubts and clarifies the meanders of my life as I sit to take account of another milestone, the completion of this dissertation. At the start of my scholarly journey, the liberal arts claimed me at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania. All students were assigned a professor as an academic advisor, and I was fortunate to have had a philosopher as mine. James F. Sheridan was an expert on Kant, Sartre, and Whitehead, who became my mentor and friend. From my first semester, Jim had me sign up for an independent study with him. This course continued through my years at Allegheny College, and he would feed me books to read and discuss, usually over coffee at the campus grill. We continued these v coffee tutorials after my graduation when I worked for him on an artificial intelligence program. Jim and his friend Al Kern were teaching a computer called Horace to write poetry. Al was a writer and professor in the English Department whose introductory literature course I took my first semester. Al adopted me as well after I announced that Theodore Roethke was my favorite poet (having read one villanelle by him), and Roethke happened to be one of Al’s poets. Since I was a double major in Philosophy and Literature and since the nuns in Catholic high school had utilized the fear of God to hardwire my brain with grammar rules, they drafted me to write code in Basic to teach Horace to write sonnets. My main contribution was to draw on my farmyard experience for a series of infamous love sonnets about chickens. From Jim and Al, I learned that scholarship need not be a lonesome pursuit, but it can be sometimes a Platonic dialogue and sometimes a Marx Brothers routine. When not at the grill with Jim and Al, I was learning much about literature from Anne Goodwyn Jones, political science from Giles Wayland-Smith, theology from Brownie Ketcham, and life from Nancy Sheridan, Jim’s wife and my advisor. During my junior year in England at Durham University, my Literature tutor, Diana Collecott, filled me with 19th Century British literature and allowed me to argue that Hopkins concept of inscape was a precursor to Whitehead’s process philosophy as long as I read Dorothy Wordsworth’s journals. I was truly fortunate to have this rich undergraduate experience. My graduate education began in the Philosophy Department at Ohio University. Art Zucker picked up where Jim left off with weekly tutorials, only now it was philosophy of science and ethics and a bit of Freud. I am grateful to Art for patiently filling in the blanks of my philosophical education and for his Groucho Marxist wit. vi Cynthia Hampton balanced my Master’s work with large doses of Plato and Aristotle and her insights about the meaning of philosophy. The Department showed great generosity by giving me unique opportunities as a graduate student to learn the craft of teaching philosophy. My experience at Ohio University made it easier for the University of Texas Department of Philosophy to risk a teaching assistantship on me. I arrived in Austin on a blast-furnace August day, and immediately found the cool shadows of the Cactus Café which ever since has been my campus office (thanks, Chris). Ed Allaire made me read Descartes very, very carefully, and Ignazio Angelelli opened me to the wonders of symbolic logic. Both made me a better philosopher, and both showed me kindness as I began to doubt my path in philosophy. My doubts pushed me to join the Peace Corps in 1990. Because of my agricultural background and Spanish language skills, I was sent to Hungary in the first group of Peace Corps Volunteers in Eastern Europe. The Magyars soon taught me that I was in Central Europe, as we sat at night on the railroad bridge in Nyíregyháza toasting the departure of the Russian troop trains rolling back towards the (then) Soviet Union. Over two years, we mapped the riparian forest of the upper Tisza River, started an environmental NGO, and drank pálinka to warm the morning chill. I return to Hungary as often as I can to our research house in Szabolcs. My geographical career began in those years thanks to my Magyar friends. Imre Vas took me on and off the trails through the Zemplén Mountains. Tibor Szép took me up and down and up and down the Tisza River counting his precious Riparia riparia. Nagyon szépen köszönöm, Vastag és Tibi. I did not yet know that I was also a geographer, but, once back at the University of Texas, I met a displaced philosopher in the School of Architecture, Bob Mugerauer, vii who helped me recognize a scholarly world beyond philosophy. He sent me to the geography department where he believed I would find kindred spirits. I am deeply in his debt. Geography was a homecoming for me, and the Department of Geography and the Environment was a wonderful world to discover. My conversion was completed during birding trips to Hornsby Bend with Robin Doughty, Ian Manners, and Barbara Parmenter. They convinced me to begin again as a geographer, and Paul English, Terry Jordon, Karl Butzer, Greg Knapp, and others welcomed this wayward philosopher and encouraged me to join them. Departmental staff has been especially helpful over my time in program, but none more than Dee Dee Barton whose tough love has been welcomed as I waivered over finishing this project. All the members of my doctoral committee have helped me along my path of becoming a geographer. Ken Young supported my development as a biogeographer and his thoughtful feedback on my writing has helped improve this dissertation. Dick Richardson has used all his cattle handling skills to corral me into finishing and has helped me grow as an ecologist and holistic thinker. Ian Manners and Barbara Parmenter broadened my view of the world with their writing about the Middle East and Istanbul, and they have graciously supported my less exotic interest in wastelands. My advisor, Robin Doughty, has taken me from being a nervous philosopher counting coots at Hornsby Bend to this last step in my education as a geographer. Thank you, Robin, for your wisdom, patience, poetry, and pints. Any alacrity and aplomb found in my prose is the result of your careful coaching and rapier edits. You taught me that the best scholarship requires passion for learning. That I still have passion for learning is a testament to your gifts as a teacher and mentor. Thank you. viii Since 2000, I have run the Austin Water Utility Center for Environmental Research (AWU-CER) at Hornsby Bend. My position at the AWU was created by Maureen McReynolds and Bill Sellstrom who decided that I was the right person for this work and made me an offer that I did not refuse. I thank them for their support and this opportunity. The research, education, and community projects that I have developed over the last nine years at Hornsby Bend have delayed the completion of this dissertation but enriched it. All of those projects have been collaborative efforts, and my colleagues and friends who have participated in them have helped me more fully understand wasteland ecology and place. My fellow geographer and friend, Rob Fergus taught me to think like a bird and a birder, which are quite different things. He also pestered me like a grackle to finish this dissertation. Thanks to him for his diverse and persistent vocalizations. Since 1996, I have worked with undergraduate interns through our Hornsby Ecological Mentorship Program, and, from making the first trails map to helping mentor at risk students in the Austin Youth River Watch Program, these students have been an inspiration.