Beauty and Habitation: Fredrika Bremer and the Aesthetic Imperative of Environmental History

Fredrika Bremer (1801-65) was a Swedish novelist and reformer primarily known for her role in advocating for women's voting and property rights in Sweden. This article analyzes her 1849-51 journey through North America and argues that she was also an important environmental figure who deserves renewed attention from environmental historians because of her embodied approach to environmental aesthetics, or what I call "aesthetic habitation." More broadly, Bremer's story suggests that environmental history needs an "aesthetic imperative" to go along with the more traditional moral and analytical imperatives of the field.