The Gibbs College of Architecture congratulates Dr. Laura Harjo, associate professor of Native American Studies and an affiliate faculty member in Gibbs’ Division of Regional + City Planning, as her book Spiral to the Stars: Mvskoke Tools of Futurity has been awarded the 2021 On the Brinck Book Award!
The On the Brinck Book Award is presented in honor of J.B. Jackson. Jurors for the award chose four books to receive the honor. They wanted to emphasize books that share fresh voices and integrate concepts across disciplines.
The winning volumes embody the spirit of J.B. Jackson and contribute to knowledge and perspectives across the design disciplines. Head juror, UNM School of Architecture + Planning Assistant Professor Kathleen Kambic, states: “We see these four volumes signaling an openness within design discourse. Each book deals with broad themes of race, environment, and climate through contestation and integration of existing ideas.”
Spiral to the Stars: Mvskoke Tools of Futurity employs Mvskoke epistemologies and Indigenous feminisms to grapple with a community praxis of futurity. The book is organized around four methodologies—radical sovereignty, community knowledge, collective power, and emergence geographies. It provides a path that departs from traditional community-making strategies, which are often extensions of the settler state.
Jurors for the On the Brinck wrote that Spiral to the Stars, “is a remarkable and original volume. It validates indigeneity and contextualizes western thinking within it by bringing additional voices to the forefront. The ontological approaches Harjo proposes are valuable blueprints for community engagement. Harjo shares a concept of radical sovereignty that reveals the value of marginalized communities to those who may not have knowledge of them. It is a powerful and expansive view of the potentials of design. This book will be captivating for students, reinforcing the importance of new types of scholarship. This volume starts with community and grounds itself in the personal experience and accessible writing of Harjo.”
Spiral to the Stars was also awarded the 2020 Beatrice Medicine Award for Best Published Monograph. You can read more about and purchase the book through the University of Arizona Press.
Dr. Harjo is Mvskoke scholar, whose research and teaching centers around three areas: imbuing complexity to Indigenous space and place, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives and anti-violence, and community-based knowledge production. She currently serves on the board of directors for the Indian Land Tenure Foundation.
Robert L. Wesley, a pioneering architect and beloved mentor, has died at age 88. A graduate of the University of Oklahoma, Wesley joined Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) in 1964 and became the firm's first Black partner in 1984. Throughout his career, he contributed to significant architectural projects while maintaining a strong commitment to civic engagement and professional mentorship.
The Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture is proud to celebrate a series of recent accomplishments by Dr. Jim Collard, Professor of Practice in the Division of Planning, Landscape Architecture, and Design, whose work continues to shape conversations around Indigenous economic development nationally and internationally.
University of Oklahoma Gibbs College of Architecture Dean Hans E. [PA1.1]Butzer returned to one of his most significant works on December 15, joining survivors and past and present board members for the groundbreaking of a $15.8 million expansion of the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum.
