Race and environment: rhetoric of the early environmental movement

Abstract

Prior research emphasizes the influence of Eurocentric, Western discourses in the creation of federal environmental policy and national parks. Through a discourse analysis, this study seeks to investigate the influences of John Muir, Theodore Roosevelt, and Western, Christian rhetoric within the Congressional debate around the creation of national parks and environmental efforts. This analysis seeks to trace the dominance of Eurocentric discourses in environmentalism and to unearth indigenous actors’ perspectives and arguments. Future research must seek to investigate and amplify indigenous history and perspectives to recover subjugated discourses in environmentalist efforts. Keywords: International Relations, Racial Discource, Environmental Policy, Native American History, Discourse Analysis, Poststructuralism, Postcolonialism, Theodore Roosevelt, John Muir, Sierra Club, National Parks Service.