Southwestern History Lecture

Introduction

The idea of region (or of a particular region) is socially constructed. What is included and excluded, what is considered important and unimportant, explanations of how things came to be as they are, who does the story-telling and who controls the mythic and scholarly history,...are all affected by the social and political contexts of the tellers and writers.

Purposes

So our study of the history of southwestern architectures involves questions about what is southwestern and about the viewpoints of cultural groups who have built their settlements and spaces in this region. "Whose history?" and "Why are we studying these histories?" are questions we will address.

The late Spiro Kostof also asked that the historian of architecture "recapture...the true physical reality of things built" in their own temporal contexts. That is, we need to know when things were as they were, as well as what, as accurately as possible. So we will consult archaeological records and archaeologists, documentary evidence and archivists, physical remains in the present and the cultural groups to which they are related.

What is good, therefore, is not self-evident nor immediately apparent. We will study a wide variety of architectures, dwellings built by families as well as specialized buildings designed by well-known artists or designers and built by specialists.

Topics

• Topic 1. Introduction. Temporal scope and relation to site visits. Requirements of the course. Main Issues.
• Topic 2. Prehistory of the desert, intermountain and plateau settlements.
• Topic 3. Periods of permanent building and community prior to Spanish interventions. Coronado's expedition.
• Topic 4. Spanish interactions and settlement. The northern province, revolts, fringes and Mexico.
• Topic 5. Explorers, ranchers and the railroad. Anglo and other European interests.
• Topic 6. Water, minerals, power. Subsistence systems and commercial exploitation. Reservations.
• Topic 7. Arts and Crafts, battle for the Santa Fe style. Photography, "Indian detours" and tourism.
• Topic 8. Water control, cotton, war industries and Los Alamos. Air conditioning and the automobile.
• Topic 9. Health, sun and air. Retirement and recreation. Modern multiplicities; reservation, casino, barrio, ski resort and "nouveau southwest".

Activities and Requirements

There will be lectures by experts from the institutions we visit but a great part of the investigation for the course will be based upon readings, group discussion and visits to sites and buildings which represent course themes or questions. We will attempt to make this team-driven learning with individual and mutually agreed investigative responsibilities.

You will also keep a continuing notebook for this course and some material may be transferred to the studio notebook where appropriate. You will submit the notebook May 29, 2009.

You will also submit two other works. One is a short essay (2000 words, excluding references) on the most valuable approach to history in studying architectures in the Southwest. What kind of evidence should it utilize and how can it account for the different viewpoints, your own interests and our disciplinary biases? This will be due at the end of our fourth week in Tucson, April 24, 2009.

The second piece of work, due with the notebook May 29, 2009, will be a case study of one strand, theme, area or process of architectural production during a defined time period. The focus of this case study needs to be chosen by April 10, 2009.

Deadlines in summary are:

• Focus of case study chosen, April 10
• "Approach to History" paper due, April 24
• Case study due, May 29
• Notebook due, May 29

Texts

In addition to the papers in our reader of studies in history and theory of southwestern architectures, you will be required to undertake readings from:

• Bunting, Bainbridge 1976 Early Architecture in New Mexico, University of New Mexico: Albuquerque
• Spicer, Edward H. 1962 Cycles of Conquest. The Impact of Spain, Mexico and the United States on the Indians of the Southwest, 1533-1960, University of Arizona: Tucson