The Outdoors as a White Person’s Playground: The Scripting of Shenandoah National Park

Abstract

This study examines the “script” of Shenandoah National Park (SNP) in regards to its on-site displays and physical resources as well as its online presence through social media. Certain aspects of SNP’s cultural history are emphasized more than others to the park’s visitors. The concept of “scripted space” is expanded to include text content as well as imagery or the park’s visual script as it relates to depictions of human subjects in photographs. The demographic characteristics of human subjects are analyzed to reveal ways in which SNP’s visual script reinforces the White Hiker stereotype and therefore the sentiment of the Outdoors as a White space. Analysis found that the average photo subject, as defined by demographic characteristics most frequently represented, is displayed to be White and Male. The park’s script varies by resource in regards to differences between on-site and online data sources as well as between social media platforms.