Abstract
This English master’s thesis is a multimedia exploration of Glen Canyon’s human and natural histories, traced through the sedimentary archive. It is also an exploration of narrative form, and is driven by the questions: What narrative formats are best suited for representing nonhuman histories? How can the nonlinearity, interconnection, and openness inherent in ecological stories be translated to written and visual media? Do landscapes store narratives about their own histories? If so, how do the arrangements of these stories differ than human-made narrative? What might we learn about narrative forms by writing alongside the earthly archives? And more particularly, what can sediment teach us about place, narrative, agency, relationality, and the contingencies of the past, present, and future?
Sedimentation was originally written and designed for a digital platform, created in partnership with University of Idaho’s Center for Digital Inquiry and Learning. The digital version of this thesis braids together photographs, maps, and interlinked storytelling structures. The following document presents one excerpt from the digital version. You can find the entire project in its original format at the following web address: https://cdil.lib.uidaho.edu/sedimentation/