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Paper short abstract:

I never planned to write microhistory, but that is what my recent book, Defending the Arctic Refuge, somehow became. I will reflect on why I adopted this narrative approach and how it can illuminate broader questions concerning visual sources, environmental storytelling, and the scales of history.

Paper long abstract:

I never planned to write microhistory, but that is what my recent book, Defending the Arctic Refuge, somehow became. I will reflect on the factors that led me to write the book in the way I did, including a sense of responsibility to Indigenous leaders and others who shared their stories and knowledge with me. I will explain how this approach allowed me to emphasize mystery and contingency in the narrative—issues of vital importance to environmental history. Even though I was writing about the recent past, microhistory helped make the familiar seem strange and revealed surprising links across multiple scales. The main thread of the narrative focuses on a low-budget slide show and the relationships it helped build between environmental activists, Indigenous communities, and others. The book offers a case study in what I call grassroots visual culture and demonstrates the agency and impact of non-iconic images. By moving beyond iconic images, we can tell new stories about the environmental past, stories that illuminate how images act in the world and have material effects on peoples, places, and politics. I will conclude by reflecting on how these methods and approaches can be applied to other visual sources. These include the controversial Crying Indian, an environmental icon that drew on colonial myths to burrow into public consciousness and become a prototype for greenwashing. While the Arctic Refuge and the Crying Indian represent diametrically different stories, microhistory can reframe our understanding of both and challenge familiar narratives of the environmental past.