How Privilege Shapes our Relationship with Nature
My working definition of privilege goes as follows; the disproportionate, unwarranted opportunities given to an individual, not based on the merit of a person’s character, but one in which a person is born into, that consciously or not, receives and takes advantage of benefits not available to others; not because the latter is undeserving, but because the former has unique socio-economic traits that give them an advantage in life based off traditional, biased, societal norms (Beck et al., 2018, Gallavan, 2005)
Growing up, I was not taught about my privilege, it was only until I started to see with my own eyes the differences in my life to my friends. Peggy McIntosh is correct when she says individuals born into privilege are taught that their lives are morally neutral; because that is what I thought as a younger kid (Gallavan, 2005). I was born into a middle class household, white, male, put into Catholic school, was able to participate in after school sports; I was given every opportunity to be able to freely explore my surrounding environments without worrying about costs, food, or being discriminated against because of my race or gender, whereas for my friends, they cannot say the same.
I have unfortunately encountered many privileged white men in my life where they seem to think just because they’ve experienced heartaches growing up, that this puts them in the same class as other minorities. That is like comparing going on a hike with a perfectly paved path with designated lookouts and pit stops, versus being kicked off that path, having to work much, much harder than the former to end up in the exact same destination.
The role privilege plays in nature interpretation extends from, but not limited to, economic, cultural, communicative or discriminatory barriers (Beck et al., 2018). These are the contents in which I believe McIntosh refers to as our “invisible backpacks”. Some people’s bags are empty, some maybe only have one or two things, and others have so much in their bags that they don’t even feel the weight anymore (Gallavan, 2005). What I mean by this is, if you are born with privilege, you are most likely unaware of the compounded benefits (weight of the bag) that you receive, because that’s all you’ve ever experienced. If your bag is always 50lbs, eventually that weight will feel lighter and lighter. Similarly, if you’ve always had access to higher education, food, speaking English or having a Canadian passport, you won’t realize how ahead in the game you really are.Â
One thing that really stood out to me in the chapter 7 readings was the differences in perspectives of going camping between the privileged and underserved. To middle-class individuals, camping is seen as an escape from the city, where you choose to sleep in tents and cook hotdogs over the fire because that is an a-typical experience which seems “new” and “refreshing”. Alternatively, if you come from a lower economic status, can’t speak much English in an English speaking country, or simply don’t have the transportation to get to and from locations, these factors limit one's ability to interact with nature. Additionally, the textbook raised another very important aspect which I admittedly hadn’t given much thought about until now, and that's how minorities potentially view camping as a “rich white person activity” where they typically associate sleeping outside in a tent with being poor or homeless (Beck et al., 2018). When you look at it from this perspective, it is really eye opening to think about how privileged individuals have gotten so used to their lifestyles, that for fun, they choose to sleep outside in tents, under the elements, without a worry of being stuck in this situation, because they have a car or trailer on stand-by, and a warm 3-story home waiting for them.Â
The minimal concerns privileged individuals have for not having to worry about transportation, food, wasting time when you could be making money or being a victim of discrimination when visiting a National Park is one of the highest forms of privilege. Based on our readings and from my own life experience regarding privilege in nature, if your skin is white, you speak English, you have a Canadian passport, were raised middle-class, always had food on the table, and didn’t have to worry about being discriminated against, you had the opportunities to interact in nature where others could not; in short, you were undoubtedly, privileged. From the words of Peggy McIntosh, you were born with an infinite amount of unearned assets at your disposal, that could be used at any given time to put yourself in an advantageous position relative to others. Where you might have a theoretical backpack full of privileged opportunities, based on your unearned socio-economic status, others barely have enough space in the palm of their hands (Gallavan, 2005).Â
Beck, L., Cable, T. T., & Knudson, D. M. (2018). Interpreting cultural and natural heritage: For A Better World. Sagamore Publishing.
Gallavan, N. P. (2005). Helping teachers unpack their "invisible knapsacks". Multicultural Education, 13(1), 36. https://link-gale-com.subzero.lib.uoguelph.ca/apps/doc/A137921591/AONE?u=guel77241&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=9fe2f151