Small Village
An examination of community, home and urban/rural planning. This work addresses housing development on reserves and allows us to visit this community built by western concepts and modelled for a “typical nuclear family.” Is it Indian? Is it isolated? — these are questions we ask. Knowing that Shebageget is Anishnabe, we assume these houses are government built. In any case, his village is a generic model for community. It could be his home, his neighbourhood, or it could be yours. In blueprints for suburban villages or new developments, we find that duplication rejects diversity for comfort, for corporate identity and equality. The intention of these architectural designs is to prevent us from having to worry about keeping up with the Jones’s or the Buckskin’s because they probably live in the same or similar house as us. The only differences are evident through class and money.
