Title

Indian trails, military roads, and waterwheels: Cultural and ecological transformations at Glen Lake, New York

Author

Paul Edward Derby, Syracuse University

Date of Award

2008

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Advisor(s)

Susan S. Wadley

Keywords

Ecological history, New York history, Cultural ecology, Glen Lake, New York, Northeast Native American culture, Early American culture, Glen Lake, New York, Native Americans

Subject Categories

Anthropology

Abstract

This is a study of a small community in upstate New York now known as Glen Lake. It is a diachronic study of how changing human populations, informed by their cultural worldviews, interacted with the natural environment. The timeframe spans the history of human habitation from the first Native Americans at the lake, to their displacement through colonial conquest, to their replacement by American settlers, to the struggles of current lake residents to protect the lake from further environmental degradation caused by human actions. The major focus is the radical transformation of cultures from Native American to Euro-American and the effects of this cultural transformation on the ecology of Glen Lake. It is argued that Northeast Native American lifeways and worldview, prior to interference by Europeans, established an ecological reciprocity with the natural environment which sustained a healthy human-earth relationship. In contrast, an imported "Old World" worldview, which still informs normative American culture today, legitimized human activities that have had long-term negative effects upon the natural environment. This work also has wider implications as a comparative study of ecological anthropology and to open a dialogue of the necessity for a new cultural worldview - global sustainability.

Comments

ISBN 9780549746249

Access

Surface provides description only. Full text is available to ProQuest subscribers. Ask your Librarian for assistance.

Recommended Citation

Derby, Paul Edward, "Indian trails, military roads, and waterwheels: Cultural and ecological transformations at Glen Lake, New York" (2008). Anthropology - Dissertations. 5.
https://surface.syr.edu/ant_etd/5

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