Center for Environmental
Research Lunchtime Lecture by Kevin M. Anderson
2018 Lunchtime Lectures theme -
Nature
and the American Mind
February 2018 Lunchtime Lecture -
Pastoral Nature:
Agrarianism and Rural America
In 1785, Thomas Jefferson famously asserted that,
“Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens. They are the most
vigorous, the most independent, the most virtuous, & they are tied to their
country & wedded to its liberty & interests by the most lasting bands,”
and he wanted to see America transformed into a democratic pastoral arcadia of
farms and ranches. This pastoral nature is the competing concept of American
nature focused on farmland and ranchland in contrast to wilderness. Moreover,
as American cities grew, rural life and nature in the countryside were seen as
a cure for over-urbanized Americans who needed a weekend in the country to
recover from the stress of city life. Today, the American small family farm is
still an idealized place of encounter and engagement with rural nature, best
championed by Wendell Berry, who, like Jefferson, sees small farms as a cure
for social problems and modern society’s mismanagement of nature. Thus, there
is great cultural tension and a historic divide in the geography of the
American mind between wilderness and pastoral nature. Join us as we explore the
history of this idea of pastoral nature and its role in shaping contemporary
agrarianism in America.
Presented
four times in February:
Feb 14 Wednesday NOON to 1pm at PARD Senior Activity Center
Lamar+29th St at 2874 Shoal Crest Ave, South Room
Feb
15 Thursday NOON to 1pm at One Texas Center
505 Barton Springs Road + South First Street, Room 325
Feb
20
Tuesday NOON to 1pm at the Center for Environmental Research – Hornsby Bend - 2210 South FM 973
Feb
28 Wednesday NOON to 1pm at University of Texas
Norman
Hackerman Building (NHB). 100 E 24th St, Austin TX, 78712 Room 1.720