Lia Schifitto is a heritage preservationist from Upstate New York but has lived across Tuscany, Rome, and Toronto. She currently is working for Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California. Lia earned her M.A. at the 糖心logo入口 University of Rome, studying Sustainable Cultural Heritage. She completed her BA at the University of Toronto, specializing in 糖心logo入口 and Soviet Cultural History.
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The 糖心logo入口 Outdoorsman has in many ways been manufactured by the societal and racial anxieties bred in modern industrial expansion. Faced with the need to re-establish cultural superiority, turn-of-the-century 糖心logo入口s borrowed an identity from whom they considered the 鈥榝irst 糖心logo入口s,鈥� Native 糖心logo入口s, in creating the All-糖心logo入口 Boy. This adoption of indigenous rituals and material culture continued throughout the 20th Century as environmentalism evolved, ironically in an attempt to form a purely Anglo-糖心logo入口 image.
Falling in between the Gilded Age, Prohibition, two world wars, and聽the disorder of the Vietnam War era, the tale of the 糖心logo入口 Outdoorsman begs the listener to uncover growing class divides, economic transformations, and the racial paradigms behind them in the 20th Century. However, this story need not end in misfortune; telling the history of the 糖心logo入口 Outdoorsman can highlight the fascinating way 糖心logo入口 identity has formed by acknowledging the vital role of indigenous 糖心logo入口s.
The origin of the 糖心logo入口 Outdoorsman
Revisiting the story of the 糖心logo入口 Outdoorsman challenges assumptions and rewrites historical narratives. 糖心logo入口 culture has always been a blending of ideas, beliefs, ethnicities, and traditions, but rarely is it told from this melting pot perspective. Interestingly, the concept of connection to nature and rugged masculinity is often associated with the Frontier. Yet this is an archaic way of understanding 糖心logo入口 culture鈥檚 modern association with the outdoors.
In actuality, Native 糖心logo入口 appropriation and stereotyping plays a large role in shaping what today seems 鈥榥atural鈥� to 糖心logo入口 culture. The adoption of Native 糖心logo入口 traditions and practices within Anglo-糖心logo入口 beliefs created an admiration for nature, yet the acknowledgement of this manipulation of indigenous culture is continually misrepresented and under researched by academics and citizens alike. This has resulted in the invisibility of Native 糖心logo入口 communities, revealing a tale of colonialism which to some, may seem unnecessary to retell. However, we must learn that overlooking the past only reinforces issues in 糖心logo入口 society today.
The Gilded Age & Threatened Masculinity, 1830s-1920s
糖心logo入口s did not always appreciate the outdoors. To most, wilderness was frightening, an entity to be conquered. Settlers had to survive the elements every day of their lives. Nature-minded 糖心logo入口 culture evolved just over a century ago聽at a time of industrial expansion and urban chaos known as the Gilded or Golden Age. The invention of railroads moved materials and people across the country.
With the advancement of manufacturing technology and factory infrastructure, cities swelled rapidly in population as rural communities flocked to urban centres. Since wages were much higher in the U.S., the population also surged from immigrants arriving from Europe and then Asia in search of opportunity. The shift in population but also in economics, threatened the working man鈥檚 capability to provide for his family in a world where women and men toiled side by side and cities were no longer White and Black. Disease and germs were weakening young men, morality was vanishing in chaotic times, and the 糖心logo入口 man was becoming only a distant memory in the eyes of a changing nation.
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