About

Contra Viento is a journal for art and literature that seeks to understand rangelands in all their varied forms.

Rangelands are the tundra and the steppe, the prairie and the plains, the shrubland, the savanna, and the desert. These places are defined by their scale: rangelands are vast. And they are defined by what they often lack: water, people, and popular resources. Rangelands exist where humans have yet to build, where forests have receded and crops do not encroach. According to most estimates, they encompass between one-third and one-half of the ice-free land on earth.

Historically, these are sites of biblical importance, of war, migration, escape, internment, and reinvention. In the United States, rangelands are home to both the West and Mythic West, to manifest destiny and mirage. These places are home to Black cowboys and the cowboys of Hollywood, to vaqueros, Basques, Native Americans, and countless other distinct and overlapping communities. 

Despite the challenges imposed by such massive and marginal spaces, humans on rangelands have survived in distinctive fashion. For many of today’s inhabitants, the herding of livestock remains a fundamental practice for creating meaning and ensuring livelihood. 

Contra Viento invites writers and artists to submit work that investigates these themes and imagines them anew.