Exploring Land and Identity in the West: An Interview with author and historian Betsy Gaines Quammen

November 30, 2023

By Carolyn Crowder

The Mansfield Dialogues is a public lecture series designed to bring community together to discuss critical issues in public policy and international affairs.  As we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Mansfield Center, our anniversary series brings citizens together to embrace our collective responsibilities in recognition that our way of life, our freedom, and our democracy cannot exist without our union.  

In the final dialogue of the series, author and historian Betsy Gaines Quammen, Métis storyteller Chris La Tray, and journalist Kathleen McLaughlin will take part in a panel and Q&A,  A Conversation on Myth, Misperception, and Reality in the West, to offer Indigenous and Western perspectives to our global audience. Co-sponsored by the W.A. Franke College of Forestry & Conservation, this event will take place on November 30th at 7:30 p.m.  

While the Mansfield Center does not take a position on partisan issues, our work emphasizes civil exchange of ideas from a diverse range of viewpoints. We hope that community members come to our dialogues to share their own perspectives and engage in meaningful conversations.  

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As an environmental historian, Gaines Quammen’s focus on the ways land is understood through cultural and religious lenses began when she earned her Masters at the University of Montana and Ph.D. at Montana State.  

In her October-published book True West, Gaines Quammen travels across the American West to explore how myths shape our identities, heighten divisions, and fracture our shared understandings of the world.  

“In a time of increased isolation due to the pandemic, this book is about going out and talking to people and engaging them to get at issues that were polarizing,” she said.  

Gaines Quammen said that the title True West is meant to be somewhat ironic, because there’s not one single identity or vision of the West. From sitting down with ranchers in Terry, Montana, to meeting black activists in Spokane, Washington, she discovered diverse perspectives on ​issues such as land use, gun culture, climate change, and conservation.  

As the U.S. experienced a pandemic and increased polarization in recent years, Gaines Quammen said she found that layers of anger, misinformation, and anti-government sentiment were contributing to instability and extremism in the region.  

Gaines Quammen noted economic hardship due to the pandemic and other factors as a key component of this issue.  

“There are communities that are suffering economically who have become vulnerable to people who are interested in radicalizing individuals in these communities,” she said.  

She also highlighted social media as an overarching aspect of this issue.  

“There’s a very real resentment and fear people have, in terms of the way they view the government,” Gaines Quammen said. “Some of that is absolutely manufactured, it’s amazing how we can turn anger and fear into clickbait to monetize on social media.”  

To begin to heal divisions and reconcile misunderstandings in the West, Gaines Quammen said that community dialogue is imperative.  

“We need to get back into relationship with each other and find common ground,” Quammen said. “If not, our communities are vulnerable.” 

Deena Mansour, Executive Director of the Mansfield Center, said that how we can do just that is “the question everyone is asking.” 

“We know that the core of the problem is that we’re not talking to one another and we’re not respecting one another’s perspectives,” Mansour said. 

Mansour noted that the mission of the Mansfield Dialogues is to bring a variety of voices to Montana and create a space for important community conversations.  

“We deliberately try to amplify the voices of people who might think differently than our speakers,” she said. “It’s the same for Gaines Quammen’s dialogue, we are trying to bring people in who may have different beliefs than her to be able to engage with those different ideas.”  

Gaines Quammen will sit on the panel alongside Chris La Tray, Métis Storyteller and Montana Poet Laureate, and Kathleen McLaughlin, Montana journalist and author of "Blood Money” on November 30th at 7:30 p.m. Register here to attend the dialogue at the University of Montana’s UC Theatre. Attendance is also available virtually via Zoom.