Partnerships and photographs: Community conceptions of Keweenaw National Historical Park

Geographers have a long tradition of using photographs to investigate landscape meaning. I conducted photo-elicitation research with community members residing in and around one of the National Park Service (nps) "partnership parks" in order to obtain their conceptions of the park. The nps partners with myriad groups in order to manage the park, resulting in mostly privatized amenities at Michigan's Keweenaw National Historical Park. Participants in my study took photographs of landscapes and used them to discuss their conceptions of the park. Building upon recent scholarship on the perceptions of parks and place attachment in parks, the photo-elicitation revealed a strikingly complex array of understandings. Social class, not whether one lived within or outside the park's boundaries, was the most important variable in categorizing perceptions of the park. These data help us understand how community members conceive of partnership parks and thus may help inform nps decision making.