Over the course of their history, the Navajo (Diné) have constructed many types of architecture, but during the 20th century, one building emerged to become a powerful and inspiring symbol of tribal culture. This book describes the rise of the octagonal stacked-log hogan as the most important architectural form among the Diné.
The Navajo Nation is the largest Indian reservation in the United States and encompasses territory from within Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah, where thousands of Native American homes, called hogans, dot the landscape. Almost all of these buildings are octagonal. Whether built from plywood nailed onto a wood frame or with other kinds of timber construction, octagonal hogans derive from the stacked-log hogan, a form which came to prominence around the middle of the last century. The stacked-log hogan has also influenced public architecture, and virtually every Diné community on the reservation has a school, senior center, office building, or community center that intentionally evokes it. Although the octagon recurs as a theme across the Navajo reservation, the inventiveness of vernacular builders and professional architects alike has produced a wide range of octagonally inspired architecture. Previous publications about Navajo material culture have emphasized weaving and metalwork, overlooking the importance of the tribe’s built environment. But, populated by an array of octagonal public buildings and by the hogan – one of the few Indigenous dwellings still in use during the 21st century – the Navajo Nation maintains a deep connection with tradition. This book describes how the hogan has remained at the center of Diné society and become the basis for the most distinctive Native American landscape in the United States.
The Diné Hogan: A Modern History will appeal to scholarly and educated readers interested in Native American history and American architecture. It is also well suited to a broad selection of college courses in American studies, cultural geography, Native American art, and Native American architecture.
By:
Lillian Makeda
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 234mm,
Width: 156mm,
Weight: 640g
ISBN: 9781032552576
ISBN 10: 1032552573
Series: Routledge Research in Architecture
Pages: 250
Publication Date: 28 June 2024
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Primary
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Preface Acknowledgments Introduction: What Is a Hogan? Chapter 1: Anthropology Villages and the Diné Hogan, 1890–1950 The 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago The 1902 and 1911 Alvarado Indian Villages The 1904 Louisiana Purchase International Exposition in St. Louis The 1905 Indian Village at the Grand Canyon The 1906 Indian Crafts Exhibition at Eastlake Park in Los Angeles The 1909 United States Land and Irrigation Exposition in Chicago The 1915–1916 Panama-California Exposition in San Diego The 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco Mesa Verde National Park, 1925–1942 The 1933–1934 Century of Progress Exposition in Chicago The 1936 Texas Centennial Exposition in Dallas The 1948–1949 Chicago Railroad Fair Epilogue: The Discover Navajo Pavilion at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City Chapter 2: “Improving” the Hogan Governmental Efforts to Encourage Permanent Homes, 1868–1900 Model Homes for Native Americans: The Omaha Cottages at Hampton Institute Native American Architecture and the Indian Boarding Schools The Sanitation Issue Louisa Wetherill’s “Big Hogan” Reassessing the Relationship Between the Hogan and Disease Model Hogans at Schools on the Navajo Reservation, 1922–1931 The Federal Government and Native American Architecture, 1925–1932 Model Hogans and the Presbyterian Mission to the Navajo Chapter 3: Route 66 and Diné Architecture Interpreting Route 66 Hogans Navajo Rug Stands Trading Posts and the Diné Hogan Navajo-Inflected Architecture Along Route 66 Route 66 and the Jacobs Family New Uses for the Diné Hogan The Stacked-Log Hogan Becomes a Roadside Icon Chapter 4: The Indian New Deal John Collier Mayers, Murray & Phillip The Soil Erosion Control Experiment Station in Mexican Springs Practice Hogans on the Navajo Reservation Hogans for Diné Nurse’s Aids Chapter 5: Jacob Morgan and John Collier: Ideology and the Navajo Hogan Schools for the Diné Before 1933 Native American Architecture for Native American Day Schools Jacob C. Morgan A Political Controversy John Collier and Diné Architecture, 1937–1945 Chapter 6: The Stacked-Log Hogan Becomes an Architectural Type Model and Type The Navajo House of Religion, 1929–1937 The Navajo Nation Council Chamber, 1934–1935 John Carl Warnecke’s Projects for the Navajo Nation, 1958–1977 Education and Tribal Self-Determination: Rough Rock Demonstration School and Navajo Community College The Navajo Hogan and Public Architecture in the 1970s and 1980s Studio Southwest: The Navajo Nation Museum and New Schools for the Diné Leon Shirley: Public Housing for the Diné and a Senior Center for Twin Lakes Dyron Murphy: A Diversity of Hogan-Inspired Designs Creating a Diné Sacred Place: The Senator John Pinto Library in Shiprock, 2009–2011 Conclusion: The Stacked-Log Hogan Becomes a Cultural Icon Illustration Credits Index
Lillian Makeda writes about the architecture and interior design of the American Southwest from her home in western New Mexico. Her work has appeared in The Architectural Review, Buildings and Landscapes, Journal of the Southwest, Society of Architectural Historians Archipedia, and Kiva: Journal of Southwestern Anthropology and History. She recently completed a Getty/ACLS postdoctoral fellowship in the history of art and is presently working on her next book, which will focus on the Santa Fe style of interior design.
