Directory
A-Z Index
 

Dr. Ethan Bottone

Dr. Ethan Bottone

Email

Office

66 Valk

Phone

660.562.1290

Follow On

Joined Northwest in 2020


Assistant Professor of Geography

Assistant Chair, School of Humanities and Social Sciences


Education

  • Ph.D. Geography; University of Tennessee – Knoxville
  • M.S. Geography; Ohio University
  • B.A. Geography/Biology; University of Mary Washington

Courses Taught

  • 32-102 People and Culture of the World
  • 32-212 Global Sustainability
  • 32-340 American Landscapes
  • 32-412 Environmental Justice
  • 32-522 Cities & Urban Design

Academic Interest

I am a broadly trained geographer with interests in a wide range of fields, though most of my research is focused on the intersection of critical studies, tourism, and sustainability. A major line of my research explores landscapes and mobility networks of the Green Book, a Jim Crow-era travel guide developed and used by black travelers. I am particularly interested in “tourist homes,” private homes and apartments rented to travelers, that were listed within the Green Book, as these spaces represented a very personal form of resistant hospitality to the pervasive injustices of institutional white supremacy. 

Outside of the Green Book, I am interested in other aspects of critical tourism and memory, with recent research investigating spaces of dark tourism associated with the RMS Titanic. I also conduct research on topics that I personally find fascinating, such as minor league baseball mascots and interstate visitor centers (because geography is everywhere!).

Scholarly Activity

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

  • Alderman, D. H., Bottone, E., Butefish, K. Kenna, J.L and Stack, K. (2024). "NEH Institute on Black Geographies of Mobility: Toward New Frameworks for Teaching Movement." The Geography Teacher 21 (1: Black Geographies of Mobility): 21-24.
  • Alderman, D.H. and Bottone, E. (2024). “On Doing Justice to Black Mobility and Movement in the Classroom.” The Geography Teacher 21 (1: Black Geographies of Mobility): 25-32.
  • Bottone, E. (2023). “’Your Home – Away From Home’: Tourist Homes and Hospitality as Resistance.” Tourism Geographies 25 (4): 1004-1025.
  • Bottone, E. (2022). “’Your Home – Away From Home’: Tourist Homes and Hospitality as Resistance.” Tourism Geographies: 1-22.
  • Alderman, D.H., K. Williams, and E. Bottone. (2022). “Jim Crow Journey Stories: African American Driving as Emotional Labor.” Tourism Geographies 24 (2-3: Attuning to Affect and Emotion in Tourism Studies): 198-222.
  • Alderman, D.H., J.F.J. Inwood, and E. Bottone. (2021). “The Mapping Behind the Movement: On Recovering the Critical Cartographies of the African American Freedom Struggle.” Geoforum 120: 67-78.
  • Benjamin, S., E. Bottone, and M. Lee. (2021). “Beyond Accessibility: Exploring the Representation of People with Disabilities in Tourism Promotional Materials.” Journal of Sustainable Tourism 29 (2-3: Special Issue on Justice and Tourism): 295-313.
  • Bottone, E. and T. Anderson. (2017). “National Discourses Materialized: Early Settlement and Land Tenure in Perry County, Ohio, 1801-1842.” Historical Geography 45: 152-171.

Book Chapters

  • Bottone, E., Alderman, D.H., Benjamin, S., and Frankel, S. (2025). “Atmospheric Instability in Dark Tourism: Spatial Construction of Conflicting Affective Atmospheres at the Titanic Museum & Attraction, Pigeon Forge, Tennessee (USA).” Critical Theories in Dark Tourism: Issues, Complexities and Future Directions, edited by N. Sharma, A. Martini, and D.J. Timothy. De Gruyter: 33-51.
  •  

    Bottone, E. (2020). “’Please Mention the Green Book:’ The Negro Motorist Green Book as Critical GIS.” In Historical Geography, GIScience, and Textual Analysis: Landscapes of Time and Place, eds. C. Travis, F. Ludlow, and F. Gyuris. Springer, 51-64.
  • Bottone, E., D.H. Alderman, and J. Inwood. (2018). “The ‘Unmarked and Unremarked’ Memories of the National Mall: Resurrection City and the Unreconciled History of the Civil Rights Movement as Radical Place-Making.” In Rhetorics Haunting the National Mall: Displaced and Ephemeral Public Memories, ed. R. Aden. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 71-92.

Book Reviews

  • Bottone, E. (2021). “Moving Violations: Automobiles, Experts, and Regulations in the United States, by Lee Vinsel.” Material Culture 53 (1): 111-113.
  • Bottone, E. (2019). “Constructing the Dynamo of Dixie: Race, Urban Planning, and Cosmopolitanism in Chattanooga, Tennessee, by Courtney Elizabeth Knapp.” Southeastern Geographer 59 (4): 424-427.
  • Bottone, E. (2019). “Hawai’i’s Scenic Roads: Paving the Way for Tourism in the Islands, by Dawn E. Duensing.” Material Culture 51 (1): 57-59.
  • Bottone, E. (2019). “Pasadena Before the Roses: Race, Identity, and Land Use in Southern California, 1771-1890, by Yvette J. Saavedra.” Historical Geography 47: 257-259.

Recent Conference Presentations

  • Bottone, E. “Chicken Tenders, Sauerkraut Balls, & Whoopie Pies: Regional Food Identities in Minor League Baseball.” Paper. International Society for Landscape, Place, and Material Culture Annual Meeting, Manchester, NH, October 2024.
  • Bottone, E., Alderman, D., Benjamin, S., and Frankel, S. “Atmospheric Instability in Dark Tourism: Spatial Construction of Conflicting Affective Atmospheres at the Titanic Museum Attraction.” Paper. Southeastern Division of the American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting, Norfolk, VA, November 2023.
  • Bottone, E. and Ford, E. “’Welcome to [Blank]:’ State Welcome Centers and the Promotion of Place.” Paper. International Society for Landscape, Place, and Material Culture Annual Meeting, Columbia, MO, October 2023.
  • Bottone, E. “The ‘Unmarked and Unremarked’ Memories of the National Mall: Resurrection City and the Unreconciled History of the Civil Rights Movement as Radical Place-Making.” Paper. National Council on Public History Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA, April 2023.
  • Bottone, E. “(De)Constructing Ivy Green: Geographies of Disability & Tourism at Helen Keller’s Birthplace.” Paper. Southeastern Division of the American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA, November 2022.
  • Bottone, E., Alderman, D.H., & Benjamin, S. “’An Unstable Atmosphere:’ The Spatial Construction of Conflicting Atmospheres at the Titanic Museum & Attraction.” Paper. International Society for Landscape, Place, and Material Culture Annual Meeting, Atlantic City, NJ, October 2022.
  • Bottone, E. “Settler Colonialism and Counter-Memory along Missouri’s Potawatomi Trail of Death.” Paper. Southeastern Division of the American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting, Florence, AL, November 2021.
  • Bottone, E. “’Your Home – Away From Home:’ Tourist Homes and Examples of Hospitality as Resistance from the Green Book.” Paper. Vernacular Architecture Forum Annual Meeting, Virtual, May 2021.
  • Bottone, E. “Reading the Green Book: The Intersection of Black Geographies and Critical GIS.” Paper. Southeastern Division of the American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting, Wilmington, NC, November 2019. 
  • Bottone, E. “The Green Book and Black Chattanooga: Reconstructing Urban Communities of Color through Repeat Photography.” Paper. International Society for Landscape, Place, and Material Culture Annual Meeting, Detroit, MI, October 2019.

Other Professional Experiences

  • Editor, Material Culture (publication of the International Society for Landscape, Place, and Material Culture)
  • Research Fellow, Tourism RESET (Race, Ethnicity, and Social Equity in Tourism)
  • Member, Board of Directors, International Society for Landscape, Place, and Material Culture (2019-2022 term)
  • Co-Director, NEH Summer Teacher Institute: The Role of Geographic Mobility in the African American Freedom Struggle, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, July 3rd – 22nd 2022