Complexities in Alaskan Housing: Critical reflections on social forces shaping cold climate building projects

Todd Nicewonger; Stacey Fritz; Lisa McNair

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Conference: 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Publication Date: August 23, 2022
Start Date: June 26, 2022
End Date: June 29, 2022
Conference Session: LEES 5: Preparing and Practicing Culturally and Ethically Sensitive Engagement
Page Count: 20
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--41510
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/41510
Download Count: 375

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Paper Authors

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Todd Nicewonger

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Todd E. Nicewonger, PhD in Applied Anthropology from Columbia University. He is currently an Ethnographic Research Specialist at Virginia Tech and Visiting Researcher in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Cincinnati. His research focuses on the cultural production of design and building practices and is a co-PI on two different NSF-funded anthropological and interdisciplinary studies examining housing security issues in rural Alaska.

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Stacey Fritz

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Lisa McNair Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

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Lisa DuPree McNair is a Professor of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech and Director of the Center for Educational Networks and Impacts (CENI) at ICAT. Her work focuses on building networks between the university and multiple community sectors and supporting evidence-based outreach in science, engineering, arts, and design. She translated a decade of interdisciplinary initiatives into VT’s Innovations Pathway Minor, and has directed 11 PhD dissertations, served on 17 PhD committees, and funded and mentored 6 post-graduate scholars (5 PhD, 1 MFA). Her funded NSF projects include revolutionizing the culture of the VT ECE department, identifying practices in intentionally inclusive Maker spaces, and researching effective modes of co-creation between housing experts and remote Alaska Native communities.

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Abstract

This paper draws on ethnographic fieldwork conducted with Alaskan engineers, builders, and housing experts on cold climate housing design in Native Alaskan communities and explores multiple levels of challenges to designing and building in remote areas. It examines how the history of land ownership and governance in Alaska shapes the imaginaries of engineers and builders working to address housing equity in the state. Specifically, we study cold climate housing projects being carried out in Alaska and compare the design of these projects to wider colonial legacies and failed housing policies. This includes examining both considerations that need to be made at the start of design and engineering projects, as well as how complexity figures into the culture of cold climate engineers and builders in Alaska.

Theoretically, this paper draws on Annemarie Mol and John Law’s conceptualization of complexity as a social practice (2002), in which they argue against reductionism by calling attention to the “multiplicity” of ways in which actions and knowledge come into being. In drawing on this work, we seek to engage with multiple histories and worldviews, including dominant notions of “home” that contribute to reproducing housing insecurity and colonial legacies in rural communities (Christensen 2017). Building on this theoretical framework, we thread together a critical description of the social terrain in which engineering and building projects in remote Alaska Native communities are situated. Such situated understandings necessitate engineers and builders working on these projects to think locally while recognizing the broader contributions of home designs developed thousands of miles from the Arctic.

The implications of this complexity, we argue, are important for engineering educators and students to incorporate in their approaches to design and engineering learning opportunities across multiple contexts, including engineering programs, construction, architecture, industrial design, environmental and sustainability science, and the social sciences. To address complex challenges in which these disciplines must all take part, engineers and others who make up these teams of diverse expertise must navigate layers of complexity and understand and value how social forces shape building projects. Cold climate contexts like the ones we describe here provide examples that can engage educators, learners, and practitioners.

Citation
Format

Nicewonger, T., & Fritz, S., & McNair, L. (2022, August), Complexities in Alaskan Housing: Critical reflections on social forces shaping cold climate building projects Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--41510

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - This paper draws on ethnographic fieldwork conducted with Alaskan engineers, builders, and housing experts on cold climate housing design in Native Alaskan communities and explores multiple levels of challenges to designing and building in remote areas. It examines how the history of land ownership and governance in Alaska shapes the imaginaries of engineers and builders working to address housing equity in the state. Specifically, we study cold climate housing projects being carried out in Alaska and compare the design of these projects to wider colonial legacies and failed housing policies. This includes examining both considerations that need to be made at the start of design and engineering projects, as well as how complexity figures into the culture of cold climate engineers and builders in Alaska.

Theoretically, this paper draws on Annemarie Mol and John Law’s conceptualization of complexity as a social practice (2002), in which they argue against reductionism by calling attention to the “multiplicity” of ways in which actions and knowledge come into being. In drawing on this work, we seek to engage with multiple histories and worldviews, including dominant notions of “home” that contribute to reproducing housing insecurity and colonial legacies in rural communities (Christensen 2017). Building on this theoretical framework, we thread together a critical description of the social terrain in which engineering and building projects in remote Alaska Native communities are situated. Such situated understandings necessitate engineers and builders working on these projects to think locally while recognizing the broader contributions of home designs developed thousands of miles from the Arctic. 

The implications of this complexity, we argue, are important for engineering educators and students to incorporate in their approaches to design and engineering learning opportunities across multiple contexts, including engineering programs, construction, architecture, industrial design, environmental and sustainability science, and the social sciences. To address complex challenges in which these disciplines must all take part, engineers and others who make up these teams of diverse expertise must navigate layers of complexity and understand and value how social forces shape building projects. Cold climate contexts like the ones we describe here provide examples that can engage educators, learners, and practitioners.   
AU  - Todd Nicewonger
AU  - Stacey Fritz
AU  - Lisa McNair
CY  - Minneapolis, MN
DA  - 2022/08/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Complexities in Alaskan Housing: Critical reflections on social forces shaping cold climate building projects
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/41510
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--41510
ER  -