Synopses & Reviews
The architecture of the people collectively known as Eskimos represents a diversified and successful means of coping with one of the most severe climates humankind can inhabit. The pervasive, popular image of the snow-dome construct known as an igloo is but one form of the built environment authors Molly Lee and Gregory Reinhardt identify in this first book-length descriptive study of that entire remarkable architecture.
Lee and Reinhardt, acknowledged experts in this field, present an overview of the materials contained in accounts covering the period between Frobisher's 1577 expedition to the norhtern edge of the Western Hemisphere through the first half of the twentieth century. This comprehensive study of the literature, though it reports on the built forms in the whole area inhabited by the Eskimo peoples, concentrates on the structures erected by the residents of the Arctic, those living at 60 N and poleward. The authors discuss geography, climate, and ethnography as they relate to this indigenous architecture, then consider housing in four subregions of the area. They further distinguish the dwellings by time of year (summer, winter, and transitional-season housing) and include special-use structures. Although this is very much an object-oriented study, the authors also summerize certain beliefs, rituals, and customs as they relate to architecture.
The author's scholarly credentials and meticulous research do not overwhelm their ability to write clear, fluent prose. With copious illustrations, they have aimed to make accessable to a wide audience what they have found intensely fascinating: the effective architecture of a resilient people.
Synopsis
The architecture of Eskimo peoples represents a diversified and successful means of coping with one of the most severe climates humankind can inhabit. The popular image of the igloo is but one of the many structures examined by experts Lee and Reinhardt in the first book-length and arctic-wide study of this remarkable subject.
Lavishly illustrated with historic and contemporary photographs, drawings, and maps, this volume includes a comprehensive survey of the historical literature on Eskimo architecture around the circumpolar north. Lee and Reinhardt also draw on their own extensive fieldwork to present an extended comparative analysis of the geographic, climatic, and ethnographic aspects of material from four Arctic subregions: Greenland; the Central Arctic; the Northwest Arctic and Bering Strait; and Southwest Alaska, the Bering Sea, Siberia, and the Gulf of Alaska. In an innovative consideration of both material and cultural aspects of dwelling, they and the peoples they describe redefine the very meaning of "architecture."
While scholars of the circumpolar north will welcome the meticulous research of this benchmark study, its clear and fluent prose and abundant illustrations make an engrossing read for specialists and nonspecialists alike.
Synopsis
Includes bibliographical references (p. 183-202) and indexes.
About the Author
Molly Lee is curator of ethnology at the University of Alaska Museum and professor of anthropology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Gregory A. Reinhardt is professor and chair of the Department of Anthropology, and director of archeology for the Archeology and Forensics Laboratory at the University of Indianapolis.