Theorizing Logger Religion within the Pacific Northwest Timber Conflict
This paper examines the links between the material and symbolic nature of timber extraction during the Pacific Northwest (PNW) timber wars of the 1980s and 1990s. Applying Durkheim’s work on religion and social solidarity, the authors consider a form of logger religion that emerged through many year...
| Published in: | Worldviews |
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| Authors: | ; ; |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
2015
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| In: |
Worldviews
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| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Pacific coast (Nord)
/ Forest products industry
/ Conflict
/ Loggers
/ Spirituality
/ History 1850-2000
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| IxTheo Classification: | AB Philosophy of religion; criticism of religion; atheism AG Religious life; material religion AZ New religious movements KBQ North America NCG Environmental ethics; Creation ethics TJ Modern history TK Recent history |
| Further subjects: | B
Durkheim
totem
logger
religion
Pacific Northwest
|
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
| Summary: | This paper examines the links between the material and symbolic nature of timber extraction during the Pacific Northwest (PNW) timber wars of the 1980s and 1990s. Applying Durkheim’s work on religion and social solidarity, the authors consider a form of logger religion that emerged through many years of PNW timber production, shaping the identities of loggers and timber community dynamics. This paper proposes that forests are spaces that bridge the sacred and profane. Our evaluation examines a totemic meaning assigned to loggers originating from forest-based labour and reinforced by timber communities through rituals. Throughout the timber wars, loggers also developed a conflicted consciousness, stemming from their connection to and the destruction of forests. Given the character of logger religion that existed, the deployment of forest management and community development policies may not adequately re-create tacit relationships between the sacred and profane, previously damaged as a result of the drastic decline in timber production in the PNW. |
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| ISSN: | 1568-5357 |
| Contains: | In: Worldviews
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15685357-01903004 |