| Description |
Between 1936 and 1949, Norm Nevills operated a river running company called Nevills Expedition in Mexican Hat, Utah. Norm and his wife, Doris, guided multiple river trips down the San Juan and Colorado rivers each summer. From all over the United States, men and women would travel to Mexican Hat to experience the rivers of southern Utah under Norm's careful ministration. This thesis explores the gendered implications of Norm's trips and the extraordinary (and sometimes ordinary) women who participated in them. I argue that the nuanced interaction between these women, Norm, and traditional gender roles demonstrates the complexity and fluidity of gender as a social construct. Through a close reading of the Doris D. and Norman Nevills papers at the University of Utah's Marriott library, I show that Norm and Doris' river trips offered their passengers a unique way to explore what being a man or woman meant in contemporary society. The different characters that emerge from this reading highlight important gendered expectations that river running allowed them to challenge or accept. |
