Personal and social meanings of wilderness: Constructing and contesting places in a global village

This paper takes a social constructionist approach to examine the nature and dynamics of personal and social meanings of wilderness. The paper builds on geographic and social theory to discuss the ways in which conflicts over the meaning and value of wilderness are significant consequences of modernization and globalization. The process of modernization destabilizes and "thins-out" the meanings assigned to places and undermines older, more traditional meanings. While such social constructionist views of wilderness and nature are sometimes seen as undermining protectionist claims, this paper argues that understanding the way that meaning is socially negotiated and contested is necessary for effective allocation and management of wilderness.