Neo-Green Imperialism

The Development of Virgin Islands National Park

Bibliographic Data

ID12453071
AuthorsRuisheng Zhang (0000-0002-5896-8239, Beijing Normal University, corresponding author), Mei Xue-qin (Tsinghua University), Xueqin Mei
Year2024
Volume29
Issue4
Pages701-724
Publication date2024-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueEnvironmental History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1084-5453 • E-ISSN: 1930-8892
PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1086/731655
OpenAlexW4403097555
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited14

In the twentieth century, American capitalists launched a variety of conservation projects in the Caribbean. Built on public-private partnerships, the development of national parks and conservation projects more broadly promoted white European Americans’ particular form of natural aesthetics and advanced the economic interests of so-called nonprofit elites from the mainland at the expense of local Afro-Caribbean populations. Prominent among them was the Rockefeller family, which played an important role in the development of Virgin Islands National Park, a conservation initiative that might be understood as neo-green imperialism. Although the park and its subsequent tourism increased incomes for some local islanders, the park was essentially the product of a peculiarly exclusionary form of white mainlanders’ conservation values, and its subsequent functioning did not seriously attend to the islanders’ history and social outlook

Archaeology · Environmental protection · Geography · National park · Island Studies and Pacific Affairs · Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies

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