Abstracts Earth and Environmental Sciences

Meander

by Maile Field

This narrative nonfiction road-trip-on-a-river explores the extremes of outdoor living and death on a series of unguided whitewater wilderness trips through the Grand Canyon. As the narrator and her main characters descend the Colorado River on inflatable rafts themes of place, nature and the human spirit’s relationship to those elements are explored as 16 people are forced to adjust to the social challenges of living together among culturally and spiritually divergent tastes. Secondary topics of geology, river safety, environmental protection and how to prepare for such a trip logistically, psychologically and physically are addressed throughout the text and in supplementary appendices. Advisors/Committee Members: Cheuse, Alan (advisor).