Squaring Palliser's Triangle: The Normalization of Nature in the Canadian Dry-land Prairies 1860-1940

Abstract

Located within the Northern Great Plains, with an area that intersects the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, Palliser's Triangle is the driest region in the Canadian Prairies. This arid expanse, first reported by early explorers of the North American West and later mapped and confirmed by the Palliser Expedition Report of 1860, holds an important place in Canadian geography. This research asserts that the colonization of Palliser's Triangle was more than simply putting people on land that "should never have been broken" (Gray 1967: 7); it involved the systematic production of normality through multiple political technologies. This critical analysis unsettles Palliser's Triangle through an investigation of nature's normalization. I employ Foucault's conception of normalization and its hallmark, homogenization through individualization, to re-politicize Palliser's Triangle's colonization and settlement. Normalization, I argue, was produced through the individualization of nature, a shift of the spotlight from a delineated problem region to illuminate identifiable and locatable problematic farms and individuals. In doing so, individual parcels of land and the character of male farmers who managed them were made increasingly visible, strategically shifting attention away from the larger political economy of dry-land settlement. The triangulated "micro-physics" (Foucault 1977: 26) of the 'soul,' space, and the norm in Palliser's Triangle settlement pitted the multiple forces of individualization against myriad forces that resisted being individualized including various Aboriginal peoples, male farmers, women farmers, soils, climate factors, weather patterns, flora, and fauna. This research illuminates the exercises of power that enabled and maintained a precarious settlement in the dry-land prairies despite nature's resistance. I wish to thank my supervisors Fiona Mackenzie and Simon Dalby for their continued support, patience, and inspiration. While their paths took them away from Ottawa to other locations, they have continued to assist me in my endeavours. Committee member Michel Hogue has also been invaluable to this process and has offered much guidance and encouragement. I would like to thank the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies for the funding and teaching opportunities it has provided me over the years. If I had not been accepted as a qualifying-year Master's student, or PhD fast-tracked, I would not be where I am today. I would like to thank the administrative staff of DGES Carleton, and especially Natalie Pressburger, who has always given me excellent help, guidance, and support in navigating rules and procedures of graduate studies. In terms of financial support, I would like to than the Government of Ontario for providing me with years of financial assistance through the Ontario Graduate Scholarship program. Finally, this research is dedicated to my wife Karin and my daughter Sigrid. Without their love and confidence I could never have accomplished this immense task. Karin p...

Trust, Risk, and Dissonance: Prairie Agriculture and Canada’s Environmental Farm Plan

“…The PFRA presented these innovations through agricultural improvement associations, which empowered farmers to direct the path of conservation ('PFRA: The Story of Conservation on the Prairies' 1961). Farmers were compliant with guidelines and quickly picked up on new technologies, likely due to existing networks of trust with government experimental farms (Anderson 2018) and their vested interest in the economic benefits of reducing soil erosion (Stefanik 2015). The educational approach was successful again in the 1970s and 80s through various conservation programs aimed at adopted new seeding technologies to reduce soil erosion (Montpetit 2002).…”