Landscapes of Retreat
Landscapes of Retreat are portraits of climate adaptation. “Retreat” is found in the land that is left behind as settlement patterns shift due to a changing climate. The term “landscape” refers to the earth animated by the aliveness of creatures and organisms, and the term retreat suggests that human patterns are not fixed but might also be enlivened. Featuring in-depth field studies from Nijinomatsubara Forest/Japan, Maule River/Chile, Niugtaq Village/Alaska, Langtang Park/Nepal, and Gaspésie Peninsula/Québec, the stories in Landscapes of Retreat suggest that communities are more likely to adapt to change when the landscape is appreciated, so that retreat can be valued. The results cut across history, fieldwork, citizenship, and geography in order to rethink and rework “change” as a means toward shared climate futures.
We’re excited to share that Landscapes of Retreat by Associate Professor Rosetta S. Elkin has been awarded the prestigious 2024 J.B. Jackson Book Award from the Landscape Studies Initiative at the University of Virginia. The jury, composed of Kenneth Helpland, Sarah Lopez, and Beth Meyer, unanimously praised the book for its innovative contributions to landscape studies and we’re proud to have developed this remarkable book with Rosetta:
“In Landscapes of Retreat, Rosetta S. Elkin shares varied lessons from the multigenerational lived experiences of Indigenous communities in changing landscapes across several continents. In doing so, she offers a hopeful perspective on retreat as a mode of climate adaptation—a cultural practice of living with, not against, the more than human world. The J.B. Jackson Prize jury was unanimous in our selection; we offer the highest praise for this book and its author, a scholar of rare honesty, transparency, and vulnerability whose account of her research methods is as fascinating as the subject of her book.”
— Elizabeth Meyer, Merrill D. Peterson Professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Virginia & Chair of the J.B. Jackson Prize Jury, UVA Center for Cultural Landscapes
The paper edition is accompanied by a free digital publication at LandscapesofRetreat.com.
Rosetta S. Elkin is Associate Professor and Academic Director of Landscape Architecture at Pratt Institute, Principal of Practice Landscape and Research Associate at the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University. She is author of Plant Life: The Entangled Politics of Afforestation and Tiny Taxonomy: Individual Plants in Landscape Architecture.