Local heritage within a federal geography: place, culture, and identity in the District of Columbia

As a city within a federal district, Washington, D.C. defies easy description, partially because “Washington” and “D.C.” are, cognitively, two distinct places. I explore the question of D.C.’s identity within the domineering presence of the federal government through its tangible heritage. After a literature review, I follow with a framework of D.C.’s political geography and the complexities and uncertainties of its identity. Next is a four-part case study of distinct D.C. identity markers, examining its low skyline and resultant cultural landscape, an exploration of the D.C. War Memorial on the National Mall, the D.C. flag and its symbolic importance, and the stone boundary markers that demarcate and define D.C. Despite the dominance of the state in D.C.’s everyday realities, Washingtonians manage to work within this marked federal-local tension. I argue that D.C.’s political geography is the principal factor in defining and understanding it as a place. To cope with their ambiguous status, Washingtonians exhibit and maintain identity markers in the landscape to help establish a heritage and identity for the District that they would otherwise not have. Further, I contend that scholars should devote due attention to the geographical context of federal districts to appreciate these atypical geographies.