Decolonizing the Language of Landscape Architecture

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.