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TitleVantage points: Scientific photography in Jasper National Park
Publication TypeThesis
Year of Publication2007
AuthorsSmith, T. L.
VolumeInterdisciplinary
IssueM. A.
Pagination142
Place PublishedUniversity of Victoria
Publication Languageen
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

URLhttp://search.proquest.com/docview/304803826
Topics

Geography

Locational Keywords

Jasper National Park

Active Link

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/463757563

Group

Science

Citation Key48310

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