Towards an Emplaced Vocabulary of Motive: Senses of Place and Land Sale Decision‐Making in the Northern Great Plains^*

Abstract

One of the most remote regions in the contiguous United States, the Upper Missouri River Breaks in the Northern Great Plains of Montana is both “cattle country” and “pristine prairie”: an identity that brings repeated tension over land use. Over the last twenty years, a conservation organization with a mission to rewild the region has purchased thousands of acres of ranchland from willing sellers despite widespread agricultural community resistance. In this study, I interview those who chose to sell and those who chose to stay, and I ask how landowners justify their decisions to sell, or not sell, their land. By using what C. Wright Mills calls “vocabularies of motive,” I investigate two central questions. The first asks why a landowner would sell land against what social norms would dictate to be “right.” The second asks why a landowner would not sell land, given the perceived inevitable eventual loss of a regional agricultural livelihood. I suggest one way to understand these questions is by considering how senses of place shape what decision‐makers believe to be the most justifiable course of action. Extending the vocabulary of motive framework to include senses of place better informs the understanding of land sale decision‐making. Though deeply contextual, the themes running through this case (i.e., ongoing existential threats to the agricultural industry, booms in the buying power of private philanthropists, and decision making in socially and politically contentious spaces) are relevant to a broader understanding of shifts within agricultural communities and the ongoing perceived “battle” between production and conservation.