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Research ArticlePeer-Reviewed Articles

Decolonizing the Language of Landscape Architecture

N. Claire Napawan, Linda Chamorro, Debra Guenther and Yiwei Huang
Landscape Journal, May 2023, 42 (1) 109-129; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3368/lj.42.1.109
N. Claire Napawan
N. Claire Napawan is an associate professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of California, Davis.
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Linda Chamorro
Linda Chamorro is an assistant professor of Landscape Architecture at Florida International University.
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Debra Guenther
Debra Guenther, FASLA, is a design partner at Mithun in Seattle, Washington.
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Yiwei Huang
Yiwei Huang is an assistant professor of Landscape Architecture at Purdue University.
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Abstract

This article explores the role that language plays in constructing and deconstructing the narratives in landscape architecture. It seeks to explore how words limit or expand the possibilities of change within the discipline. Through an exploration of linguistic, colonial, and decolonial theory, the authors begin with an exploration of the origins of the term landscape and then examine Indigenous alternatives, followed by an interrogation of the prevalent dualistic positioning in the lexicon of landscape architecture. This includes the dichotomy of terms such culture and nature as previously challenged by feminist scholars; however, the authors further detail the Western colonial bias present in this and other binaries. The authors draw from traditions in American Indigenous and Afro Descendent epistemologies, along with other non-Western worldviews from Middle Eastern, Southeast Asian, and South Asian cultures. Finally, this article argues for the continued exploration of language and its use within the discipline as part of an engaged practice that is necessary for our discipline to remain relevant in the current socio-ecological moment.

KEYWORDS
  • Landscape
  • language
  • Indigenous knowledge
  • decolonization
  • settler colonialism
  • diversifying narratives in landscape architecture
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In this issue

Landscape Journal: 42 (1)
Landscape Journal
Vol. 42, Issue 1
1 May 2023
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Decolonizing the Language of Landscape Architecture
N. Claire Napawan, Linda Chamorro, Debra Guenther, Yiwei Huang
Landscape Journal May 2023, 42 (1) 109-129; DOI: 10.3368/lj.42.1.109

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Decolonizing the Language of Landscape Architecture
N. Claire Napawan, Linda Chamorro, Debra Guenther, Yiwei Huang
Landscape Journal May 2023, 42 (1) 109-129; DOI: 10.3368/lj.42.1.109
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  • Article
    • Abstract
    • THE POWER OF LANGUAGE
    • OUR CURRENT STORIES
    • DECOLONIZATION AND LANDSCAPE
    • DECOLONIZING LANGUAGE
    • DECOLONIZING WAYS OF THINKING
    • DECOLONIZING WAYS OF BEING
    • THE LANDSCAPE IN LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE
    • OTHER WORDS FOR LANDSCAPE
    • LANDSCAPE BINARIES
    • DISCUSSION: FUTURE DIRECTIONS FOR THE DISCIPLINE
    • NON-CONCLUSION
    • ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
    • Footnotes
    • WORKS CITED
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Keywords

  • Landscape
  • language
  • Indigenous knowledge
  • decolonization
  • settler colonialism
  • diversifying narratives in landscape architecture
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