Materializing Tensions: How Maps and Trails Mediate Nature

Abstract

Before visitors to national parks take their first steps of a hike, maps shape their perceptions of nature. Additionally, on the trail, the landscapes organize visitors' experiences by concealing and revealing the trail itself. Focusing on one Zion National Park hiking trail, Hidden Canyon, as a rhetorical artifact, I argue that maps and trails materialize tensions of access–preservation and safety–risk, functioning as mediators between recreators and nature. My analysis employs the concept of landscape to connect maps and trails with our understanding of nature, foregrounding the consequences of material rhetoric in environmental communication.

Keywords:

• Rhetoric
• Materiality
• Mediated
• Outdoor recreation
• Nature

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Danielle Endres and the reviewers who helped me strengthen this essay. I would also like to thank the staff at Zion National Park, the David C. Williams Memorial Grant Fellowship committee, and the Floyd O'Neil Scholarship in Western American Studies committee.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Samantha Senda-Cook

Samantha Senda-Cook is an Assistant Professor in Communication Studies and Faculty in Environmental Science at Creighton University. This essay is derived from the author's dissertation and was presented NCA in 2010