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Historical Geographies of Industrial Forestry in British Columbia
Principal Investigator: David A. Rossiter, Western Washington University |
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Project Description
This project explores the ways in which the historical geographies of industrial forestry in British Columbia served to facilitate and reinforce colonial land and resource regimes in the province. It is arranged around four themes: possession and dispossession; the state, science, and the production of forest space; forests, forest work, and provincial identity; and alternate forest geographies. Ultimately, the project highlights the ways in which one resource industry and its stakeholders, by embracing the opportunities afforded by both the natural environment and a political-economic climate infused with liberal optimism, produced a series of geographies that assisted in dispossessing Native peoples of land and resources and enabled their re-possession by Euro-Canadian society.
Results to Date
Rossiter, David A., “Producing Provincial Space: Crown Forests, the State, and Territorial Control in British Columbia” in Space and Polity, 12(2), 2008, pp. 215-230.
Rossiter, David A., “Lessons in Possession: Colonial Resource Geographies in Practice on Vancouver Island, 1859-1865” in Journal of Historical Geography, 33(4), 2007, pp. 770-790.
Rossiter, David A., The Normal Forest: Producing British Columbia, 1859-1945. Unpublished PhD dissertation. Toronto: Department of Geography, York University, 2005. Supervisor: Patricia K. Wood. External Examiner: Matthew Evenden.
Funding
Dissertation field research was made possible through grants from the Faculty of Graduate Studies at York University and the support of the Ontario Graduate Scholarship program.
Research and Sponsored Programs at Western Washington University provided funds for the final stages of archival research for “Lessons in Possession.”
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Logging truck chassis from early 20th century. Lynn Headwaters, District of North Vancouver. Photo: D. Rossiter, 2008 |