Incorporating Place-Based Marginalized Perspectives into Geologic Field Trips

Abstract:

Incorporating place-based pedagogies into a geologic curriculum can deepen and contextualize students’ connections with field trip sites. This presentation will discuss this implementation in Death Valley and the greater Mojave Desert region of California, a common field trip location for the Bryn Mawr College Geology Department, using three examples of marginalized perspectives: 1) Indigenous populations of the Timbisha Shoshone, 2) White female suffragette explorers, and 3) African American homesteaders. These narratives are often less explored, more seldom known, and deserving of amplification. This presentation will use primary texts detailing the lived experiences of each in relationship to Mojave and Death Valley landscapes. The Timbisha Shoshone, like many Indigenous populations, have a unique relationship with their homeland of Death Valley. While often thought of as extremely hot, dry, and unlivable, Death Valley is a “place about life” (in the words of elder Pauline Esteves) for the Timbisha Shoshone. For suffragette Edna Brush Perkins, Death Valley too became much more than a place of death during her 1920 exploration - it bore a freedom wildly different from the freedom of casting a ballot, which she described in her memoir, “The White Heart of the Mojave.” For African American homesteaders, a similar freedom from oppression was advertised through an opportunity to farm the Mojave Desert for three years in exchange for land ownership. While many families succeeded in farming for the duration of three years, this success was relatively short lived - many moved to other farms or away from farming completely. There are many opportunities for adding these place-based human histories into courses and trips, including adding select sites to field trips that involve significant human history, elaborating on the history of pre-included sites, including human history in field trip prep, and allowing built-in time for students’ reflection of their own experience with the land. Structuring place-based pedagogies into geology creates a stronger and more three-dimensional understanding of the land, as well as helps to bridge the gap between geology and the humanities.