Lecture 1: The Question Mark in the Circle
The first lecture lays out the intellectual background for
the study of the Great Plains as regional cultural history, concluding with
what amounts to a model for examining the culture(s) of the plains. One of our texts, of course—Webb—is in the
thick of this lecture. You'll find him
explaining his thesis early in The Great Plains and applying and
developing it throughout.
Outline of
Lecture
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Introduction: Stegner and History
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Nationhood and
History on the Plains
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Frederick Jackson Turner, American frontier historian,
and Harold Innes, Canadian economic historian, situate the history of the
plains in the respective national sagas of the United States and Canada.
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Regional
Scholarship in the Natural Sciences
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Grassland ecologists and other scientists point the way
toward the study of the Great Plains for their own sake—the beginnings of
truly regional scholarship.
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Regionalism
Crosses Over to the Social Sciences and Humanities
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Ideas about adaptation as the key to life on the plains
cross over from the natural sciences to the social sciences and humanities
via the writings of historian Walter P. Webb. Adaptation to environment
becomes the key interpretive lens by which American scholars view the
History of the Great Plains. Canadian scholars, however, prefer
multi-culturalism, rather than environmental adaptation, as an interpretive
theme.
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Travel on the
Gravel: Exploring the Great Plains
Thesis
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A Theory for
Regional History
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Drawing on both American and Canadian interpretations of
the plains experience, we conclude this lecture with the construction of a
theory of regional studies that will comprehend the commonalities and
diversities of regional life.
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Epilogue: Tocqueville on the Plains
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HIST 431 Home Page
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