Description
State and Provincial Parks are represented as inherently natural places set apart from the disorder of everyday life, places that are intrinsically ‘wild’ and must be protected. Yet, in order to experience the freedom of the parks, we must embrace the very forms of regulation that we closely associate with places we consider to be artificial, restrictive, and alienating. Drawing on a wide range of documents used to govern park jurisdictions, Joseph Hermer explores the character and consequences of the contradiction posed by the “regulated Eden” of park destinations. Central to his analysis of parks as historically specific sites of governance is the notion of “emparkment” – the practices and discourses that manufacture wildness and nature through specific forms of spatial and temporal regulation.
