Files
Abstract
During the course of the last century, place-based philosophies and perspectives were developed and drawn upon by scholars, educators, planners, and others in an attempt to offer potential avenues for establishing ethical and meaningful relations with the world around us. This thesis builds upon this effort, and seeks to answer the following question: can place-based philosophies be applied to the management and interpretation of public-access historic agricultural sites in order to foster and promote an ethic relevant to modern concerns and trends related to human interactions with the natural world? This thesis suggests that when people view and engage with public-access historic agricultural sites as localized natural and cultural habitats over time, a place-based environmental ethic grounded in local environments and communities may become established.