The Crazy Horse Memorial: a study of a sacred and contested landscape
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Date
2014-01-13
Authors
LaRocque, Taylor Danielle
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Abstract
The Black Hills of South Dakota, once home to the Lakota Sioux, is a sacred landscape to these people, but is currently threatened by extensive tourism, mining, industrial and logging activity. Within these sacred hills, an enormous carving in stone is slowly being created in the form of a Lakota warrior: the Crazy Horse Memorial. The carving is meant to honour all American Indian people, as well as Crazy Horse’s people, the Lakota; however, the carving is contested by many Lakota people as it clashes with their spiritual beliefs and traditions. In this practicum, the social, environmental and spiritual character of the Black Hills is studied to determine the efficacy of the Crazy Horse Memorial in contemporary Lakota society, and to determine a more appropriate form of memorialization for the Lakota people. Sacred landscapes throughout the Black Hills are evaluated based on their management practices and current environmental and spiritual states; subsequently, a new regional management strategy is introduced in order to protect traditional sacred sites and preserve traditional Lakota landscapes and traditions. In so doing, the involvement of Landscape Architects is presented as a viable strategy in evolving the cultural and physical landscape of the sacred Black Hills.
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Keywords
Landscape Architecture, Sacred, Native American, Contested, Lakota