The apparatus of Western educational systems have been utilized as a tool in the colonization of Indigenous people in what is now known as the US and Canada. This tool was used to exterminate the people that had existed on this continent for tens of thousands of years. The historical documentation provides clear evidence that it was not simply a way to assimilate Indigenous people into mainstream American life, but was used as a genocidal cajole. The most poignant moments of this genocidal strategy were made in the remarks of Captain Richard Henry Pratt in a speech he delivered in 1892. Pratt was behind the development of the Carlisle Indian School founded in 1897. In his speech, Pratt stated, “Kill the Indian in him, and save the man.”
The boarding schools that stole Indigenous children from their families existed from 1810 and into the 21st Century. The experience has changed since the 1990’s but many generations of Indigenous people are affected by this generational trauma – me included. My grandmother attended a boarding school in Wisconsin.
This studio will begin to research and begin to understand this tool of colonization but offer an optimistic way to see the educational experience for Indigenous people. Indigenous reserve, reservations, pueblos, etc. are places where these people have sovereignty and the ability to determine their own future. This studio will be focused on the Sandia Pueblo just outside of Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The work of the studio builds upon efforts by the Indigenous Design and Planning Institute (iD+Pi) at the University of New Mexico. We will be assisting this community with the creation of an educational master plan and conceptual design proposals for a new school for educating Indigenous youth in this sovereign Nation.
Background (from iD+Pi)
The Sandia Pueblo Education Department approached the UNM Indigenous Design and Planning Institute (iD+Pi) to re-conceptualize a master plan for their education campus. This request builds on a site visit that was conducted on 10/24/23. This project was initiated at the behest of the Pueblo leadership and their Education Department administrators on the planning and development of a campus to house complementary programs in support of their language and culture. Presently, their existing site design and layout does not adequately meet their educational needs. Several facilities are outmoded, and decisions need to be weighed on whether they can be repurposed, relocated or razed in anticipation of new or upgraded facilities.
There are a number of challenges that exist on the site. These include programmatic issues detailing the alignment of the mission and vision of the various units of the Education Department and changes that have been initiated at the library, the Child Development Center, the health clinic. There are also physical site planning aspects of the site needed to control surface runoff and flooding, pedestrian and automobile circulation, as well as considerations concerning the integration of the adjacent baseball field and pool and wellness facility. New development is being considered and recommendations are being weighed on designating priorities for staging new buildings and programs.
The Pueblo is requesting assistance to develop a master plan that will reflect existing and future objectives for growth and development.
Travel Week
The studio will begin by travelling to Milwaukee, WI, to tour the Indian Community School of Milwaukee. This project was designed by Antoine Predock in collaboration with studio:indigenous. It is a K-8 school that integrates Indigenous culture, values and language into the pedagogical approach to elementary and middle school education. The studio will then travel to Chicago to tour several design offices and fly directly to Albuquerque, New Mexico. The studio will spend three days there getting background from iD+Pi at UNM and tour the Pueblo and talk with those leading education in that community. This studio will rely heavily on community engagement tools that are unique to working in Indigenous communities and iD+Pi will assist in these matters.
Indigenous Methodologies
Throughout the semester we will examine what is unique about working in Indigenous communities and share Indigenous values, epistemologies, and methodologies in the work produced. The work will be shared with the Pueblo virtually during the midpoint of the semester.