I am a landscape architect / environmental historian specializing in cultural resource management in sites of conflict, neglect and trauma. My research draws from critical race theory, critical legal and prison studies, cultural landscape studies and heritage studies to address topics as diverse as: 

• Race, space and exclusion
• Confinement and ethnicity 
• Transitional justice, redress and reparation politics
• Heritage preservation, critical conservation and cultural property law
• Commemoration, public history and memory

Current Research

I am a 3rd year PhD Student in CED's Department of Architecture with outside field specializations in Ethnic Studies (Asian American Studies and Native American Studies) and in Law and Legal History (Art and Cultural Property Law, Land Use Law, Environmental Justice, Human Rights Law and Transitional Justice Studies).

In my dissertation, I juxtapose three carceral landscapes and document patterns in their spatial transition from sites of confinement to designated historic landmarks. I focus on Western Canada and the Western States’ architectural legacy of extant World War II civilian enemy alien prison camps in interior British Columbia, Southeast Alaska and Hawaiʻi.[1] My project traces the historical evolution and convergence of claims for redress and reparations initiated by former incarcerees and their descendants beginning in the late 1970s. I study the interplay of these redress movements with emerging state efforts to designate, preserve and interpret former sites of confinement. I also draw parallels with the Japanese American mainland experience to connect histories of forced displacement, dispossession and relocation to convey a more complete account of the shifting history of civilian internment and its associated material culture. Broadly, this research aims to contribute to a contemporary reconsideration of ‘the Good War’ in history and memory and to debates on political, philosophical, and ethical dimensions of redress and reconciliation in settler states. 

[1] Civilian ‘enemy alien’ groups interned during WWII, in addition to Japanese Americans in mainland US, included West Coast Japanese Canadians confined in labor camps and road camps in interior British Columbia, Manitoba and Ontario; Native Aleut populations forcibly evacualed from the Pribilof Islands in the Berring Sea to isolated camps and mining towns in Southeast Alaska; and the incarceration of select members of the Japanese and Japanese American community in Hawaiʻi in a prisoner-of-war camp on the island of Oʻahu.

Service + Outreach

*ADPSR: Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility, Board Member (2017-present)

*NiCHE: Network in Canadian History & Environment, Student Representative (2015-present)

*Center for Race and Gender, Graduate Student Researcher (2015-17, part-time); writer and contributor Faultlines Newsletter (2015-17; 5 issues); student representative on the Center for Race and Gender Faculty Director Search Committee (2016-17); Student Advisory Committee Member (2015-present) 

*GiGs, Undergraduate Student Mentor, Office for Graduate Diversity (2016-17)

*BAMPFA, Docent, Child and Youth Programs and School Visits (2016-17)

*CEDSOC, External Relations Liason (2015-16)

Professional Experience

I am a practicing landscape architect with experience in Canada, UK and Europe. My areas of expertise include cultural landscape assessments and architectural documentation (Historic Resource Evaluation Technical Reports for CEQA, NEPA and Sec. 106 Compliance documentation including HABS/HAER/HALS inventories, field drawings and photography). Recent summer positions in the U.S heritage sector includes:

*U.S. National Park Service, NCPE Cultural Landscapes Intern (National Council on Preservation Education). Pacific West and Alaska Regional Offices,  Department of the Interior, Sitka National Historical Park, Alaska (May-Aug 2017, full-time)

*CyArk, Heritage Research Assistant, Oakland (May-Aug 2017, temporary part-time)

*San Francisco Heritage, Curriculum Developer for DiscoverSF! San Francisco (May 2017, part-time)

*National Trust for Historic Preservation, US/ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites) International Exchange Intern, Washington, D.C. (May-Aug 2016, full-time)

Valadares, D. "Dispossessing the Wilderness: Environmental Peace building and Reconciliation in Canada’s National Parks" in Jeroen Rodenberg and Pieter Wagenaar eds. Cultural Contestation: Heritage, Identity and the Role of Government. Palgrave Macmillan (forthcoming)