Taking(s) on the Mississippi: Bearing Witness for Reconciliation

Abstract

The realities of retreat are destabilizing static representations of property embedded in the national identity of the United States. The Birds Point-New Madrid floodway in Missouri is a landscape formed through the survey: a technical apparatus operated to preserve the institution of private property along past American Frontiers. Landscape architecture has long utilized the survey to frame life along the Mississippi River, situating claims of ownership onto the land in service of colonial narratives. Taking(s) on the Mississippi uses retreat as a tool to reframe the survey, addressing histories of displacement inscribed on the surface of the floodway to advocate for reparative action. Landscapes of witness are embodied through archival narratives, legal argumentation, and drawing, setting precedent for new claims of collective ownership and relationality to emerge on site. These claims lay the foundation for a future where retreat makes room for reconciliation in the contested landscapes of the Mississippi.