Hunting and heritage on trial: A dramatistic debate over tragedy, tradition, and territory

Abstract

This essay employs Kenneth Burke's theory of motivation to examine the intense debate surrounding the killing of Karen Wood. The shooting itself and its divisive aftermath was a representative anecdote for a community struggle over territory in both literal and figurative senses. Whereas previous studies have demonstrated how a controlling malignant scene may be used to reduce action to motion and thereby absolve agent, this study demonstrates that a scenic perspective can also accomplish the reverse: motion may be elevated into action depending upon the qualities that inhere within an individual or the indivudal's relationship to the scene. Agent is the coordinating term to resolve the polarity of scene and act and thereby makes a transfer possible.