Architectural tribalism in the Native American New World.

Abstract

This study proposes a theoretical framework for the production of contemporary tribal architectures which emphasizes the unique identities and traditional spiritual beliefs of Native American communities. The framework views architectures as communication systems whose social functions are to embody rhetorical messages of tribal communities. Such architectures spatially manifest the unique tribal identities of those communities, thereby promoting a renaissance of architectural tribalism. The theoretical framework was used to develop an architectural code for the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska. This architectural code was tested by two graduate architecture studios (one having access to the code, the other not) at the University of Michigan. The students proposed 17 designs for a Northern Ponca interpretive center which were evaluated through interviews with the students and their instructors, and through voting by 35 members of the Niobrara, Nebraska, community. Interestingly, community members consistently preferred those designs which most completely fulfilled the programmatic requirements of the hypothetical center, regardless of whether or not designers had access to the architectural code. In fact, a test of the code's ability to produce Ponca architecture was confounded by the varied ways students with access to the code chose to employ it in their designs. The production of tribal architectures--ethnoarchitectonics--is shown to be dependent on the development of new design traditions whereby (1) tribally specific messages are encoded into contemporary architectures and (2) procedures are implemented which enable Native American communities to ensure adherence to those traditions.