Descriptive Questions: In the junction of English & Environmental Studies, situated in the literature of the American West, descriptive questions could simply ask what kinds of literature have been written about the West? What poems, what novels, what epics, what essays? Simply, what narratives capture the rivers of the West? What are the common themes, tropes, images, phrases? Who are the people who write about Western rivers? Are they men, women, children, American, Chinese, and have these demographics changed since Walt Whitman and Lewis & Clark? These questions can really help me gain background and narrow the focus of my studies to poem or novels, specific authors or specific genres.
Explanatory Questions: Why do people write about the West and why rivers? What is the geography and hydrology of the West that might spark imagination or myth about the rivers and landscapes? What is happening is history? Are there Manifest Destiny texts? Transcendental? Apocalyptic? What are the trends and movements in America that might have driven western expansion? Are dams being built? Why? What government actions are being propagandized to paint a picture of the West that shows up in literature and culture? Is there an abundance of water or is there are drought and does this play into different pieces of literature from different times? These questions can help be decipher the agenda behind Western literature, be it to draw people to the West, encourage dams, discourage dams, reveal environmental threats, promote recreation, or simply create art.
Evaluative Questions: How did literature of the West change people’s actions or opinions? Did environmental literature correspond with conservation? What issues were ignored by propaganda and was there a power imbalance, for instance between the US Government and Native Americans (yes)? How can the historical context of the literature unveil undercurrents in American culture and does this problematize the texts? What does the canonization of the west and its rivers say about American culture and ethic? If these texts are found to be racist or promoting problematic actions like Manifest Destiny or the building of dams which threaten ecosystem vitality, does that make them less valuable at art? Can we actually draw any valid observation of the environment or of history from literature?
Instrumental Questions: How do we teach literature about the American West? Is it its own genre? Should the art or the politics be emphasized when reading or teaching literature about the West? What do we do with literature that romanticizes genocide or ecosystem destruction? How do we grapple with changing values, such as our perception of water in the west as abundant rather than the drought conditions we experience today??