Native North American Peoples - General & Miscellaneous, Pre-Columbian & Native American Architecture, Vernacular Architecture, Native North American Peoples - Art & Artifacts, Domestic Architecture
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Overview
Why, during the past thirty years, has there been a dramatic change in architecture by and for Native Americans? How does it reflect the revival of language and the renewal and invention of dance, music, and other performance, and the remarkable burst of creativity in Native American novels and poetry? And since architecture requires technical expertise and money, how does this change reflect alterations in the economic, legal, and political situation of American Indians in the past decades? At no other time since the European invasions have the Native nations been as determined to set their own agendas for building or been as successful in reaching their architectural goals. They now claim authority in planning what they need for modern life - office buildings, schools, clinics, religious and community structures, urban cultural centers, houses, and museums, even commercial buildings and casinos. Those agendas often include strategies for making sure that the buildings are culturally appropriate or focus on collective decisions that embody community values brought from the past to the present. In Contemporary Native American Architecture, Carol Herselle Krinsky examines the historical and legal background of this movement of cultural regeneration through the medium of architecture, and records responses of Native Americans to ever-changing cultural situations.Editorials
Library Journal
This work is dedicated to the premise that Native American architecture has blossomed in the last 30 years, along with other indigenous arts. The author has engaged in an extensive survey of recent building types and augmented the results with interviews with those directly involved in architectural projects. The information gained is valuable in itself, but readers may have a more difficult time discerning the cultural movements Krinsky so eagerly postulates. This is not the fault of the author, a meticulous architectural historian. Rather, the book's survey reveals just how disparate quality contemporary architecture can be, regardless of its creators' background. Replete with vital plans, sketches, and exterior photographs, this work does add new and valuable information on a whole category of modern building. The pieces do not necessarily add up to firm evidence of a cultural renaissance, but academic libraries covering contemporary architecture will want to add this title as a necessary sequel to Peter Nabokov's historically focused Native American Architecture (Oxford Univ., 1989).Paula A. Baxter, NYPLBook Details
Published
August 1, 1996
Publisher
Oxford University Press Inc
Pages
288
Format
Paperback
ISBN
9780195097399