The Implications of the Built Environment and Individual Sovereignty: An Examination of New York Skyscrapers and Lakota Tipis

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dc.contributorSmith, Preston
dc.contributorHouston, Serin
dc.contributor.advisorMarkovits, Elizabeth
dc.contributor.authorMarshall, Zoë
dc.date.accessioned2017-07-05T13:30:55Z
dc.date.available2017-07-05T13:30:55Z
dc.date.gradyear2017en_US
dc.date.issued2017-07-05
dc.description.abstractMy senior thesis research explores how spatial theory is linked to social systems. I argue that the built environment reflects and reinforces societal values. After all, social systems are enacted through a physically lived experience. How have individual sovereignty, capitalism, and modernity shaped the Euro-American urban landscape? What did that space look like before settler-colonialism, and what can we learn from that? Through analyzing two contrasting case studies, New York skyscrapers and Lakota tipis, I aim to break down the implications that organized space has for society. I concentrate on how skyscrapers, with their imposingly tall and rectilinear forms communicate values of individual sovereignty. In contrast, Lakota tipis, with their functional mobility and circular base, promote communal ideals. I question the assumption that individual sovereignty is a worthy goal in society, especially within the geologic time of the Anthropocene. Furthermore, I contextualize how climate change provides an opportunity for us to reconfigure society to be a more just and accessible system.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipPoliticsen_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10166/4081
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.rights.restrictedrestricteden_US
dc.subjectSpaceen_US
dc.subjectSpatial Theoryen_US
dc.subjectLefebvreen_US
dc.subjectModernityen_US
dc.subjectAnthropoceneen_US
dc.subjectSovereigntyen_US
dc.subjectSkyscraperen_US
dc.subjectLakotaen_US
dc.subjectTipien_US
dc.subjectIndigenousen_US
dc.subjectCommunityen_US
dc.titleThe Implications of the Built Environment and Individual Sovereignty: An Examination of New York Skyscrapers and Lakota Tipisen_US
dc.typeThesis
mhc.degreeUndergraduateen_US
mhc.institutionMount Holyoke College

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