Get Back (To Where You Once Belonged): Back-to-Nature in American Life

Event Details

If humans are a part of the natural world, what does it mean to go “back to nature”? From 19th century utopians, to Depression-era homesteaders, to 60’s counterculturalists, to contemporary advocates of green lifestyles—Americans have long shared a faith that a return to nature might provide an answer to the challenges of their times. This talk describes the history of “back-to-the-land” movements in the U.S. to encourage audiences to examine what it has meant to go “back” to nature, while also exploring the people and places that have been shaped by – and excluded from – visions of a return to nature.

This will be a 40 minute talk with a 20 minute Q&A. It will be held downstairs in the children’s department. Please register ahead of time by calling (812) 268-4957.

Andrew N. Case, Ph.D. is an independent scholar of history and environmental studies whose work has explored the history of environmentalism, consumer culture, and changing ideas about ecology, science, health, and the environment. His book, The Organic Profit: Rodale and the Making of Marketplace Environmentalism (Washington, 2018), is an environmental and cultural history of the company that helped make “organic” into a household word in postwar America. He has held teaching appointments at UW-Madison, Michigan State, and Washington College. He currently lives and works in West Lafayette, IN.