Title | Vantage points: Scientific photography in Jasper National Park |
Publication Type | Thesis |
Year of Publication | 2007 |
Authors | Smith, T. L. |
Volume | Interdisciplinary |
Issue | M. A. |
Pagination | 142 |
Place Published | University of Victoria |
Publication Language | en |
Abstract | Like the north, the Mounties and the transcontinental railway, national parks are the subject of some of the most persistent images, stories and legends in Canada. This thesis investigates one collection of these images, scientific photographs of Jasper National Park (JNP). While acknowledging that photographic images are understood and read as objective reflections of reality, this thesis shows that multiple narratives are produced from a single photographic record. It is through these multiple, complex narratives that we envision and understand JNP. Using an interdisciplinary approach to this research, I combined the literature and methods of anthropology (visual anthropology and the anthropology of space and place), environmental studies, museum studies, and photography. I use the creation and delivery of an exhibition as a method to investigate this photographic collection. My field site, Vantage Points: Scientific Photography in Jasper National Park, the Bridgland and Repeat Photography Projects, was exhibited at the Jasper Yellowhead Museum and Archives, between July and October 2003. This research shows visual documents to be important for investigating and understanding how landscape representation has become central to Canadian ideas about national parks, wilderness and nature. |
Notes | Bridgland Project, Repeat Photography Project |
URL | http://search.proquest.com/docview/304803826 |
Topics | Geography |
Locational Keywords | Jasper National Park |
Active Link | |
Group | Science |
Citation Key | 48310 |