<i>Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors</i> by Carolyn Finney, Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 2014,194 pp., $32.00 (Hardcover), ISBN: 978-1-4696-1450-2

Finney critically investigates the racialization of nature and outdoor areas in the USA, disputing the concept that environmentalism and wilderness work as racially neutral forums. Through a combination of historical research, cultural critique, interviews, and autoethnographic reflection, the book shows how African American ties to land, recreation, and environmental belonging have been shaped by slavery, segregation, and regimes of representation. Although the work's conceptual relevance is widely acknowledged, this evaluation also points out some important limitations, such as its uneven geographic focus and its limited interaction with particular outdoor exclusionary locations, such as national parks in the northern and western USA.

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Publication Details

Journal
Race and Justice
Published
2026-05-30
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1177/21533687261451731
Primary Topic
American Environmental and Regional History
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors by Carolyn Finney, Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 2014,194 pp., $32.00 (Hardcover), ISBN: 978-1-4696-1450-2

Krzysztof Kasiński
Race and Justice
American Environmental and Regional History
article

Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors by Carolyn Finney, Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 2014,194 pp., $32.00 (Hardcover), ISBN: 978-1-4696-1450-2

Krzysztof Kasiński
article en

Abstract

Finney critically investigates the racialization of nature and outdoor areas in the USA, disputing the concept that environmentalism and wilderness work as racially neutral forums. Through a combination of historical research, cultural critique, interviews, and autoethnographic reflection, the book shows how African American ties to land, recreation, and environmental belonging have been shaped by slavery, segregation, and regimes of representation. Although the work's conceptual relevance is widely acknowledged, this evaluation also points out some important limitations, such as its uneven geographic focus and its limited interaction with particular outdoor exclusionary locations, such as national parks in the northern and western USA.

Race and Justice
Jan Kochanowski University (PL)
Reduced inequalities
Openalex Percentile: Top 3%
American Environmental and Regional History
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