Cataloguing wilderness: Whiteness, masculinity and responsible citizenship in Canadian outdoor recreation texts by Marie Annette Vander Kloet A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education Ontario Institute for Studies in Education University of Toronto © by Marie Annette Vander Kloet (2010) ii Cataloguing wilderness: Whiteness, masculinity and responsible citizenship in Canadian outdoor recreation texts Doctor of Philosophy (2010) Marie Annette Vander Kloet Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education University of Toronto Abstract This research examines representations of wilderness, Canadian nationalism and the production of responsible and respectable subjects in commonplace outdoor recreation texts from Mountain Equipment Co-op, the Bruce Trail Conservancy and the Bruce Peninsula National Park. Drawing theoretical insights from Foucault’s genealogy and technologies of the self, post- structural feminism and anti-racist scholarship on whiteness, I pose three broad questions: How is nature understood? How is Canada imagined? How are certain subjects produced through outdoor recreation? In this research, I outline five ways in which wilderness is represented. First, I consider how wilderness is produced as a place that is above all else empty (of human inhabitants and human presence). I then examine four ways in which the empty wilderness is represented: first, as dangerous and inhospitable, second, as threatened, third, as sublime and fourth, as the Canadian nation. I link the meanings invested into wilderness with a set of practices or desired forms of conduct in order to articulate how a specific subject is produced. These subjects draw on the meanings attributed to wilderness. The dangerous wilderness can only be navigated by a Calculating Adventurer. The threatened wilderness desperately needs the assistance of the Conscientious Consumer. The sublime wilderness provides respite for the Transformed Traveler. The Canadian or national wilderness is best suited to and belongs to the Wilderness Citizen. The iii four subjects I examine in this thesis each draw from particular wilderness representations and specific practices in order to be produced as desirable in the context of outdoor recreation. By examining the relationship between wilderness discourse, subjects and practices in everyday texts, I illustrate how masculine and white respectability operate in outdoor recreation. Pointing to subtle shifts in the meanings and values attributed to masculinity, Canadianness and whiteness, I articulate how outdoor recreation texts produce subject positions which are richly embedded in race and gender privilege and assertions about national belonging. In addition to examining whiteness, nationalism and masculinity, this research examines how individualized practices, such as consumer activism, become understood as the conduct of responsible neoliberal citizens concerned with national and environmental interests. iv Acknowledgements I have undoubtedly written a stronger, richer thesis largely as a result of the extensive and supportive network of scholars, friends and family who have carried me through. Over the past five years, I have ended numerous emails, each time sincere, with ‘many thanks’. I am grateful for all the assistance, kindness and critiques that have been shared with me. My committee has been a source of inspiration and insight: I have learned from their scholarship, their careful reading of my work and their demonstrations of integrity and generosity to which I aspire. To Kari Dehli: For your speedy emails, phone calls, letter of supports, each detailed and careful reading of my work and advice on navigating the complicated and pot-holed academic terrain, I am thankful. You have, at each twist and turn, been able to offer me what I needed to carry on. To Helen Lenskyj: Your support of my academic potential has been tireless: I have learned a lot from your scholarship, and perhaps even more from your generosity. I look forward to future lunches and discussions – I walk away feeling more clever each time. To Caroline Fusco: I aspire to provide feedback with the elegance you model. The questions, critiques and suggestions you have offered have often been precisely what I needed to hear and you have made it possible for me to listen. To Joe Hermer: Reading Regulating Eden in the first few months of my PhD prompted me to pursue this research topic. I am grateful for your reading suggestions and the lines of questioning you have posed – and of course, for the reminders that things will pan out. To Cate Mortimer-Sandilands: Many thanks for your close and careful reading of my work, your thoughtful questions and your praise. Your comments reveal your rich engagement with my research and your insights have sparked my imagination. Without my all- star thesis group, I would have been lost. I have laughed, ate, drank and cried with you through the best and worst of it. I cannot believe my good fortune to be collaborating with such intelligent, hilarious and diligent women. This thesis is yours as much as it is mine. To Allison Burgess: You have a delicacy with words and an eye for detail – your reading of my thesis, but also your insights into the academic realm has been infinitely helpful. Your ability to deftly point to what I should be observing has motivated me countless times. To Kristin Smith: In a word…neoliberalism. You have dragged me to see my work through a different lens and I am thankful for your persistence. Your kind and thoughtful criticism and praise have been integral to my successes. To Amy Gullage: While I am stuck on the details, you have always drawn me back to the larger questions. My weaknesses are some of your greatest strengths – I have learned from your approach to writing and research. v To my friends and family who have patiently listened to my thesis woes: try to remember the treats I made along the way. Those offerings, more than anything here, are my thanks. To Megan Rivers-Moore: During all the skype calls, coffees, beers and walks, I have counted on you to provide me with perspective. Your balance of cynicism and inspiration suits me perfectly. To Rachel Sullivan: Your kind words have echoed in my ears many times over the years. For the phone calls, glasses of wine, slices of pie and laughter, I am ever thankful. To Suzanne Lenon: I admire your clear and eloquent writing. I am grateful for the emails, phone calls and lunches where you told me with grace and firmness things I needed to hear. To Lindsay Woods: You reminded me almost every day for five years to get to work. Thanks for all the breaks: for tea, wine, tv, staring at the lake, feasting, telling me how it is and above all else for making me laugh. To Ingrid Vander Kloet: Thanks a hundred times over for helping me with the intricacies of language, for taking the time to read and edit parts of this thesis and for the many hours of listening to my grad school diatribes over very full cups of coffee. To Eric Vander Kloet & Laura Vanharmelen: Heartfelt thanks for sharing frustrations and joys. You have, more times than I can recall, reminded me to relax and to remember that building a huge campfire, relishing delightful food and playing a game are what life is made for. To Jana Vander Kloet, Tim Cassidy, Anton & Sebastian: Many thanks for the phone calls, hilarious answering machine messages and appropriately distracting discussions of food, wine, movies, lego, the moon, giant squids, lava, camping, soccer and bicycles. To Mom and Dad: I cannot thank you enough for listening, with seemingly never-ending patience, to my frustrations and worries. Thanks for keeping a note by the phone which summarized my research, for taking me camping and for giving me what has felt like tireless support. To Andrea Costantini: This thesis will not love me. For that, I have you. vi Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ iv Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................... vi Introduction: Into the wild .............................................................................................................. 1 Chapter 1: Literature Review ........................................................................................................ 16 Social Nature ............................................................................................................................. 16 Canadian Mythologies .............................................................................................................. 28 Rational Recreation ................................................................................................................... 36 Nature, Nation, Recreation ....................................................................................................... 46 Chapter 2: Theory and Methodology ............................................................................................ 52 Theory ....................................................................................................................................... 52 Methodology ............................................................................................................................