This article contributes to a body of scholarship examining the relationship between myth and geography. Specifically, I integrate a posthumanist understanding of assemblage theory to better account for the role that more-than-human entities play in the creation and transformation of mythic landscapes. To support this line of inquiry, I adopt Bowden's geographical traditions model to help trace the origin and evolution of a particular myth – the Yellowstone River as the longest undammed or free-flowing river remaining in the contiguous United States – from its beginnings in the wild and scenic rivers movement of the late 1950s and early 1960s to contemporary environmental conflicts that expose its contradictions and threaten its continued existence. I argue that actors within the Montana Department of Fish and Game – embedded within an active and dynamic environment – created a new myth for the Yellowstone River throughout the late 1970s as a political tool to gain legal protection for the river. During the 1980s and 1990s, however, I argue that this myth transformed and took on the aura of an inviolate landscape. Consequently, I argue that the myth's relationship to environmental protection became more ambiguous than its creators had originally intended.

中文翻译：

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黄石公园是美国本土最长的未筑坝河流：神话景观的环境历史地理学


本文为研究神话与地理之间关系的学术研究做出了贡献。具体来说，我整合了后人类主义对组合理论的理解，以更好地解释超越人类的实体在神话景观的创造和改造中所扮演的角色。为了支持这一研究方向，我采用了鲍登的地理传统模型来帮助追溯一个特定神话的起源和演变——黄石河是美国本土现存最长的未筑坝或自由流动的河流——从 1950 年代末和 1960 年代初的狂野和风景河流运动开始，到暴露其矛盾并威胁其继续存在的当代环境冲突。我认为，蒙大拿州渔业和野生动物部的行为者——嵌入一个积极和充满活力的环境中——在整个 1970 年代后期为黄石河创造了一个新的神话，作为为这条河获得法律保护的政治工具。然而，在 1980 年代和 1990 年代，我认为这个神话发生了变化，并呈现出不受侵犯的景观的光环。因此，我认为这个神话与环境保护的关系变得比其创造者最初的意图更加模糊。