Beyond City Beautiful: Interpreting Cultural Landscapes at the International Rose Test Garden and Laurelhurst Park in Portland, Oregon
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Date
2023-06
Authors
Tran, Lindsay
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
Historical interpretation (alternately referred to in this research as “heritage interpretation and “public interpretation”) often limits the narratives that are highlighted for public consumption in places of historical importance. I argue via discussion of cultural landscape theory and material rhetoric (the idea that discourse is material, i.e. that beyond content, the format of a piece of communication carries a rhetorical power of its own) that such limitations are a choice, not an inevitability—especially with cultural landscapes, which thanks to their relationship with time are historic resources of a particularly dynamic character. Treating public parks as cultural landscapes that evolve over time, rather than as historic sites wedded to a discrete period of significance, allows for a more flexible interpretation of their historical meaning. When parks are treated as cultural landscapes, their significance to many people and many groups throughout history presents as a coherent narrative, rather than a haphazard and seemingly unrelated collection of events. Using the inductive process of grounded theory as a methodological approach, I critically examine the extant interpretive infrastructure in two case studies, Laurelhurst Park and the International Rose Test Garden. I explore the material form of each park’s historical interpretation as a series of rhetorical choices, and then suggest expansions based on each park’s respective history and the material rhetoric of the existing interpretive infrastructure.
Description
164 pages
Keywords
historic preservation, cultural landscapes, heritage interpretation, historical interpretation, material rhetoric, Katherine Dunn, Portland Oregon, Laurelhurst Park, International Rose Test Garden, public parks