Semester

Spring

Date of Graduation

2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Type

PhD

College

Eberly College of Arts and Sciences

Department

English

Committee Chair

Tim Sweet

Committee Member

Stephanie Foote

Committee Member

Lara Farina

Committee Member

Stewart Plein

Abstract

The project first traces the earliest origins of natural history writing, surveying how natural history writing from antiquity presented and categorized the living world, and then how the rise of print culture and growing popularity of natural history writing would facilitate the rise of European empires. Values and conventions emerged that would later feed into the field guide, like the pairing of text and illustration to aid identification and the decontextualizing of plants and animals from their environments.

Near the end of the nineteenth century, the field guide genre emerged. Some wildly popular books, mostly written by women, emphasized the virtuousness of learning birds and plants, using a domestic rather than national organizational framework. Other early field guides emphasized learning taxonomy and were more closely aligned with scientific disciplines. Both archetypes upheld values still present in the field guide.

Modern field guides have solidified Linnaean taxonomy as the default framework for understanding distinct lifeforms, but they also chronicle a growing extinction anxiety about the destructive power of humans. Modern field guides endorse consumerism, the experiencing of nature as a product. This widespread genre encapsulates the belief that through prosperity and desire, we can spread enough awareness to protect biodiversity despite our own destructive tendency. Field guides not only reflect our own values, they champion them.

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