Colonialism and Landscape
What is it about?
This article is the editorial to the Design Ecologies issue on Colonialism and Landscape which explores the contemporary landscapes that are the result of modern day processes and historical legacies. What all the contributing articles in this issue try to do is to piece together and provide a time dimension to how we colonise and define landscapes we inhabit. It is like detective work, that when you occupy a landscape you are given information that has been laid down, and then you investigate all the potential reasons why the information is there.
Why is it important?
The articles in this issue of Design Ecologies on Colonialism and Landscape provides an ecological window into how our space is constantly being refined and unpacked. A kind of predictive engine into opening up the hidden complexities of specific spaces of awareness. For example, Mario Gooden's article entitled 'Colonialism, Water and the Black Body', explored the idea that water is a topological condition that has been a medium for European colonialism and the construction of race.