FINDING COMMON GROUND - REIMAGINING A MEMORIAL MULTICULTURAL FOOD FOREST ON PIER 48 IN RESPONSE TO THE HISTORY OF CHINESE IMMIGRATION AND EXCLUSION IN SEATTLE, WASHINGTON

Abstract

This thesis explores a systems thinking approach through speculative and creative storytelling in response to the history of Chinese immigration and exclusion in Seattle. I reimagine an inclusive future where a multicultural food forest along Pier 48 memorializes the 350 Chinese immigrants who were expelled from Seattle’s waterfront during the 1886 riots. This narrative explores our connection to the more than human world and relationship to place. Historically, fungi, an imported culturally relevant food source, contributed to the physical strength of Chinese railroad workers known to work longer and harder than non-Chinese workers. Fungi thus serves as a character in my storytelling as a symbol for resilience, showing how ancestral food created a sense of place for the International District community. Growing culturally relevant food in this memorial multicultural food forest can help us honor history in a way which further explores the connections between social-ecological living systems for compassionate co creation. Connecting the importance of ecological diversity in soil organisms in this future food forest to the diversity of culturally relevant plants, to banding across ethnic lines communally as a multicultural community can help us imagine a resilient and healthy future (holistically). The exploration of the connection between soil, plants and people can help us find common ground and humanity. Speculative fiction thus can be a tool for landscape architects to utilize before diving into a permanent design.