Maybe you can settle her down: exploring patterns of settlement, control, and exile from land and body in southeast Iowa
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Authors
Wyse, Rebecca J.
Issue Date
2012
Type
Thesis
Language
en
Keywords
Consciousness
Alternative Title
Abstract
For thousands of years, the land that makes up present day Iowa lay free, its natural boundaries carved out by rivers, wetlands, prairie and timber. Native people lived on the land for 13,000 years, until the land was opened to settlement in 1833. By 1870, the land between two rivers— the Missouri and the Mississippi—had been dissected into a grid of squares: square counties and square townships on square miles. Over 95 percent of Iowa's natural landscape was forever changed to make way for an agricultural society eager to possess land. Rich prairie soil that had long sustained wildlife and prairie grasses now supported production of crops and livestock. Iowa became known as The Heartland. I examine the history of peoples native to present-day Iowa, what is known of native plants and animals prior to European settlement, the 40 years post-settlement that so changed the natural spirit of the place, family stories, and my experience growing up within a Mennonite community near land settled by my ancestors. I propose that subjugation of land mirrors subjugation of body, mind, and spirit. While growing up, my spirit was constrained, trapped inside a square box. After stepping outside the box, I discover I have transplanted the grid of control onto myself, thus creating my own prison. By telling stories of the land, and of those whose feet have walked there, this study seeks a path of healing and transformation, from outer control to inner freedom.