"Out there in that cabin in the middle of nowhere in Montana": Narrating the Geographical and Mental Deviance of the Unabomber
In 1996, the mathematician-turned-terrorist Theodore J. Kaczynski, nicknamed the Unabomber, was arrested in his self-built cabin in the woods of Montana after having terrorized the nation for over 20 years. He had modeled his cabin after Henry David Thoreau's idealized Walden cabin. This articl...
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University of Innsbruck
2024-10-01
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| Series: | Journal of the Austrian Association for American Studies |
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| Online Access: | https://jaaas.eu/jaaas/article/view/206 |
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| author | Robert Winkler |
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| description | In 1996, the mathematician-turned-terrorist Theodore J. Kaczynski, nicknamed the Unabomber, was arrested in his self-built cabin in the woods of Montana after having terrorized the nation for over 20 years. He had modeled his cabin after Henry David Thoreau's idealized Walden cabin. This article argues that the Unabomber's cabin in Montana, often considered a so-called flyover state, serves as the pivotal point for his geographical marginalization in the media coverage of the case. Its location in what is discursively constructed as a 'wilderness' makes it impossible to perceive his cabin through the perspective of the pastoral ideal – this imagined middle ground between nature and culture. The over-determination of this material form in its location apparently off the grid furthermore enables the othering and medicalization of Theodore J. Kaczynski. This article demonstrates that the media coverage of the Unabomber case displays these three tendencies which come together in the nexus cabinsanity, i.e., the conflation of pseudo-geographical, cultural, and medical discourses. Projecting cabinsanity, in turn, enables the dismissal of the Unabomber's critique of technologized society as delineated in his manifesto.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-9140b2962ba24d4b95bdde771e3f93fe |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2616-9533 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-10-01 |
| publisher | University of Innsbruck |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of the Austrian Association for American Studies |
| spelling | doaj-art-9140b2962ba24d4b95bdde771e3f93fe2025-01-29T12:52:47ZengUniversity of InnsbruckJournal of the Austrian Association for American Studies2616-95332024-10-016110.47060/jaaas.v6i1.206"Out there in that cabin in the middle of nowhere in Montana": Narrating the Geographical and Mental Deviance of the UnabomberRobert Winkler0University of SalzburgIn 1996, the mathematician-turned-terrorist Theodore J. Kaczynski, nicknamed the Unabomber, was arrested in his self-built cabin in the woods of Montana after having terrorized the nation for over 20 years. He had modeled his cabin after Henry David Thoreau's idealized Walden cabin. This article argues that the Unabomber's cabin in Montana, often considered a so-called flyover state, serves as the pivotal point for his geographical marginalization in the media coverage of the case. Its location in what is discursively constructed as a 'wilderness' makes it impossible to perceive his cabin through the perspective of the pastoral ideal – this imagined middle ground between nature and culture. The over-determination of this material form in its location apparently off the grid furthermore enables the othering and medicalization of Theodore J. Kaczynski. This article demonstrates that the media coverage of the Unabomber case displays these three tendencies which come together in the nexus cabinsanity, i.e., the conflation of pseudo-geographical, cultural, and medical discourses. Projecting cabinsanity, in turn, enables the dismissal of the Unabomber's critique of technologized society as delineated in his manifesto. https://jaaas.eu/jaaas/article/view/206UnabomberWalden; or, Life in the Woodscritical regionalismpastoral idealecophobia |
| spellingShingle | Robert Winkler "Out there in that cabin in the middle of nowhere in Montana": Narrating the Geographical and Mental Deviance of the Unabomber Journal of the Austrian Association for American Studies Unabomber Walden; or, Life in the Woods critical regionalism pastoral ideal ecophobia |
| title | "Out there in that cabin in the middle of nowhere in Montana": Narrating the Geographical and Mental Deviance of the Unabomber |
| title_full | "Out there in that cabin in the middle of nowhere in Montana": Narrating the Geographical and Mental Deviance of the Unabomber |
| title_fullStr | "Out there in that cabin in the middle of nowhere in Montana": Narrating the Geographical and Mental Deviance of the Unabomber |
| title_full_unstemmed | "Out there in that cabin in the middle of nowhere in Montana": Narrating the Geographical and Mental Deviance of the Unabomber |
| title_short | "Out there in that cabin in the middle of nowhere in Montana": Narrating the Geographical and Mental Deviance of the Unabomber |
| title_sort | out there in that cabin in the middle of nowhere in montana narrating the geographical and mental deviance of the unabomber |
| topic | Unabomber Walden; or, Life in the Woods critical regionalism pastoral ideal ecophobia |
| url | https://jaaas.eu/jaaas/article/view/206 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT robertwinkler outthereinthatcabininthemiddleofnowhereinmontananarratingthegeographicalandmentaldevianceoftheunabomber |