The coyote in the Kawuneeche: Story, relation, and experience in a Rocky Mountian landscape

This thesis is a response to and a product of my academic experience in a specific combination of American Studies, American Indian Studies, and Environment & Natural Resources at the University of Wyoming. I attempt to demonstrate the integrative potential of cultural studies and environmental practices, by including interdisciplinary research and self-reflection. I examine the efforts of two women of the early twentieth century, Harriet Vaille and Ruth Nelson, who advocated for the inclusion of culture within the construction of nature. With this perspective, I can examine a place they both knew, the Kawuneeche Valley of Rocky Mountain National Park, as a common ground for human interaction and cultural exchange. The intercultural relationships I pay special attention to are those that occur between the Northern Arapaho, Northern Ute, the Kawuneeche Valley, and those who have shaped this landscape to be a place of nature.