Power relationships in the spatial partitioning and natural resource management of the Grand Canyon.

Abstract

The management of natural resources entails the social construction of geographical space. Within the EuroAmerican tradition, these constructions have involved not only the definition of spaces but also the delineation of boundaries. The process of spatial construction and boundary delineation, when it includes contests among competing interests, or when it entails situations of dominance and resistance, engenders relations of power. The power relations most often take place within the realm of social, political, and economic discourse and practice. The outcomes of these power relations are legally and cartographically defined spaces which, in turn, become inputs to subsequent relations of power. Discourse analysis, power analysis, structuration theory, and postmodernist concepts provide a framework within which such processes may be productively analyzed. These approaches, as well as an innovative approach to examining functionalities of boundaries in the construction of space, have been employed to analyze and explain the partitioning and repartitioning of the spaces of Grand Canyon, an area not only of outstanding beauty, but also one where contests over geographical space and its resources have a long and well-documented history. The approach employed in this study is applicable to a broad range of inquiries regarding the social construction of space, particularly when such construction occurs within the context of natural resource management.