Dr. Barbara Barnes

Biography

Barbara Barnes' current work examines the production of normalized embodied national identities and the emotional appeal of outdoor adventure sport travel practices and representation. She completed her dissertation entitled 'Global Extremes: Spectacles of Wilderness Adventure, Endless Frontiers, & American Dreams' in December 2006 at the University of California, Santa Cruz. This work utilized multiple methods, including ethnography, media analysis, and cultural history, to examine the cultural-historical significance of outdoor adventure in the United States during the final decades of the twentieth century. Barnes argued that the practices and televisual representations of these adventures recall mythologies of frontier wilderness spaces that have historically represented U.S. national memories. These include themes of equality of opportunity, national innocence, individual freedom, and the spaces that are imagined to physically embody the nation and the bodies seen as belonging to the pursuit of the American Dream. She is currently working on a book manuscript based on her dissertation research, along with published articles related to her research interests in national identities, mobile bodies, and the meanings of landscapes.

Research Interests

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