The Land Has Memory: Indigenous Knowledge, Native Landscapes and the National Museum of the American Indian

Spruce, Duane Blue & Tanya Thrasher

ISBN 10: 0807832642 / ISBN 13: 9780807832646

Published by University of North Carolina Press, 2009

About this Item

Seller Inventory # 78420

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Land Has Memory: Indigenous Knowledge, Native Landscapes and the National Museum of the American Indian
• Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
• Publication Date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0807832642
• ISBN 13: 9780807832646
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

In the heart of Washington, D.C., a centuries-old landscape has come alive in the twenty-first century through a re-creation of the natural environment as the region’s original peoples might have known it. Unlike most landscapes that surround other museums on the National Mall, the natural environment around the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) is itself a living exhibit, carefully created to reflect indigenous ways of thinking about the land and its uses.

Abundantly illustrated, The Land Has Memory offers beautiful images of the museum’s natural environment in every season as well as the uniquely designed building itself. Essays by Smithsonian staff and others involved in the museum’s creation provide an examination of indigenous peoples' long and varied relationship to the land in the Americas, an account of the museum designers' efforts to reflect traditional knowledge in the creation of individual landscape elements, detailed descriptions of the 150 native plant species used, and an exploration of how the landscape changes seasonally. The Land Has Memory serves not only as an attractive and informative keepsake for museum visitors, but also as a thoughtful representation of how traditional indigenous ways of knowing can be put into practice.

About the Authors

Duane Blue Spruce (Laguna/San Juan Pueblo), an architect, served for ten years as the primary liaison between the museum and the architectural design and construction team. He currently works at NMAI’s George Gustav Heye Center in New York.

Tanya Thrasher (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma), assistant head of publications, has worked at NMAI since 1998. She served on a project team dedicated to opening the museum on the National Mall.