In the name of profit: Canada's Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Reserve as economic development and colonial placemaking
Abstract
Taking a critical heritage approach to naming and placemaking in contemporary Canada, we discuss how the power to name reflects the power to control people, their land, their past, and ultimately their future. Our case study is the Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Reserve (MABR), a recently invented place on Vancouver Island, southwest British Columbia. Through analysis of representations and landscape, we explore MABR as state-sanctioned branding, where a dehumanized nature is packaged for and marketed to wealthy ecotourists. Greenwashed by a feel-good "sustainability" discourse, MABR constitutes colonial placemaking and economic development, representing no break with past practices.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Landscape and Cultural Studies
Ecology
Conservation
and Geographical Studies
Environmental Philosophy and Ethics
Publication details
- Journal / source
- VIUSpace (Vancouver Island University Library)
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 4
- Publication date
- 16 March 2026
- Language
- EN