Online Archive of University of Virginia Scholarship
The Tree at the Center: Reconstructing Landscape History and Analysis in the American Landscape's Periphery.125 views
Author
Shivers, William, Constructed Environment - School of Architecture, University of Virginia
Advisors
Lee, Michael, AR-Landscape Architecture, University of Virginia
Putalik, Erin, University of Virginia
Singerman, David, AS-History (HIST), University of Virginia
Abstract
For the United States, its natural identity is its national identity. This dissertation addresses the limitations of landscape history and analysis in the American periphery. Power structures and rigid, myopic narratives are agitated around the creation, expansion, and maintenance of the American landscape. Focusing on Hawai‘i, a biography of landscape is produced using culturally and ecologically significant species, specifically ʻŌhiʻa lehua (Metrosideros polymorpha). Thus, the dissertation offers an expanded means of understanding and criticism around America's infatuation with its landscape, its frontiers, and its projection using a synthetic means of landscape history and analysis with novel design research methods.
Degree
PHD (Doctor of Philosophy)
Keywords
Landscape Architecture; Environmental Humanities; Political Ecology; American Studies; Hawaii
Language
English
Rights
All rights reserved (no additional license for public reuse)
Shivers, William. The Tree at the Center: Reconstructing Landscape History and Analysis in the American Landscape's Periphery.. University of Virginia, Constructed Environment - School of Architecture, PHD (Doctor of Philosophy), 2025-04-23, https://doi.org/10.18130/peh5-hy13.
