Unnatural nature – visual, spatial, and temporal contexts controlling our air

Abstract

The article is the result of the collaboration of a sociologist and librarian who have photodocumented the Sagamore Hill National Historic Site for decades to study the changed ecology, revaluation of landscape, and the sense of nature, changing overtime. The research methods included archival research, field interviews, and comparative documentation. The visual, spacial, and temporal contexts controlling the air we breathe include: the historic contexts of natural formations, the stewardships by the Roosevelt Family, TR Association, the National Park Service management, and the dynamic interactions of people on the site. The documents are studied to theorize the larger socio-cultural changes, altering our visions and the social construct of nature. The aspects of breathing air and life itself, and the desirability of safe, healthy enjoyable public spheres emerge and make this case study useful for comparative analysis.