Houses in Heaven are made of steel : understanding change in Ecuadorian amazon Secoya structures

This thesis explores the change in the building structures of a Northeastern Ecuadorian group, the Secoya of the Aguarico River. In the context of environmental activism and cultural survival there are many reasons to lament major alterations in the Secoya's lifestyle in recent years. One of the most visible transformations experienced by this group is the abandonment of several traditional architectural types, including the Jaihub'e or communitarian longhouse. The thesis focuses on understanding the forces that have influenced the Secoya decision to adopt the Zinc House type, a metallic-roofed individual housing unit. These include change in their economic systems, depletion of the natural resources necessary for traditional construction, Western cultural pressure, difficulty to adapt the traditional structures to a modern life, and finally a historical predisposition to change. In short, the Secoya changed firstly because everything around changed, leaving them with no other option, and secondly because, simply, human beings naturally tend to change. The change was meaningful for the Secoya because many building practices that were actively linked to social life were abandoned. It was meaningful for us outsiders because our expectations of an exotic culture were left unfulfilled when it changed. However, rather than the loss of another indigenous culture, what the case illuminates is the nature of our own expectations, those conforming to an urban, pop mythology regarding sustainability. We should follow the Secoya example and change our own urban mythology, because our mythology wrongly overvalues cultural idleness and nature as the means for guaranteeing sustainability;

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2005

Author dc:creator

• Arboleda, Gabriel

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• John A. Ochsendorf.

• Architecture.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/31195

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/31195