“When the places that made us are no longer made by us, how do we continue as an 'us'?” Omeasoo Wahpasiw

“S paces matter because they determine how we will live our lives,” says Dr. Omeasoo Wãhpãsiw in her talk for at the Festival of Place, now available on The Developer Podcast.

 

Through her academic work on indigenous architecture, Wãhpãsiw describes how the architecture of spaces such as teepees and their location dictate whether families can continue their matriarchal, egalitarian tradition or even whether traditional ceremonies can take place.

 

Wãhpãsiw also points out that the erasure of indigenous architecture can be misconstrued as the erasure of the intellectual tradition, philosophies and the identity itself.

 

“Built spaces are important signifiers to outsiders; much like they were to early explorers and anthropologists, among their first comments are always the appearance of indigenous architecture.

 

“People in power like to think that what they don’t see, doesn’t exist,” she says, telling the story of a boyfriend who claimed she was not indigenous because she didn’t live in a teepee or wear moccasins. He asked, “How was I any less white than he was?”

 

Listen to the interview

 

 

The erasure of indigenous architecture by colonialism did not eliminate identity – “I hold within me an intellectual tradition,” Wãhpãsiw says.

 

“Regardless of the colonialism that erased indigenous architectural traditions from the landscape, indigenous worldviews, philosophies, life ways and expectations around what life is for and what it should be still persist.