--- title: Tribal Loyalties date: 2024-01-12T17:30:00-05:00 author: University of Maryland canonical_url: "https://terp.umd.edu/tribal-loyalties" section: Articles --- # Tribal Loyalties *January 12, 2024* — by [Sala Levin ’10](/authors/sala-levin-10) - *Photos by John T. Consoli* > American Indians have long been denied fair access to homes, health care, schooling and jobs. For Joseph Kunkel M.Arch. ’09, the mission to change that is personal. *View of low, tan buildings against a large sky. Dessert terrain.* **IN A VAST OCHRE** and beige vista, the Wa-Di Housing Development almost disappears into its surroundings. This eight-acre cluster of adobe-style homes between Albuquerque and Santa Fe sits in the center of a triangle formed by the Sandia, Jemez and Sangre de Cristo Mountain ranges, a circular hamlet braced against the tumbleweed-dotted desert. Inside Chaslyn Crespin’s small studio, a more colorful scene unfolds. Trained by her parents in the art of jewelry making, Crespin grinds blue-green turquoise, reddish pipestone and purple sugilite to fashion them into necklaces, earrings, bracelets. Her mother and father, she says with pride, were once invited to Harvard to give a presentation on their traditional jewelry and the thunderbird motif that represents the Kewa Pueblo, the federally recognized tribe also known as the Santo Domingo to which the family belongs. Crafts are vital to the Kewa; pottery, silverwork and jewelry are major contributors to the tribe’s income. But the work is messy. Grinding stones sends fine particulate matter flying. Firing clay pots requires dangerous heat. In the central village of the pueblo—a historic, Indigenous town that predates European settlement—multiple generations of families typically live in small houses; with no dedicated workspaces, artisans can’t help but expose elderly grandparents and toddlers alike to the hazards of their labor. For years, everyone in the village shared the same cough. *Joseph Kunkel* > I always knew I wanted to be working for my own tribe.” — Joseph Kunkel, principal, MASS Design Group “Whenever I got there, my aunties and uncles would say, ‘Welcome home. This is your home. This is where your people are from,’” Kunkel recalls. “But the architecture and the community didn’t reflect that strong sense of identity.” He works alongside tribal housing authorities, members of tribes, community development financial institutions, architects and other partners to create places that take into account the aesthetic and cultural values of specific Native groups. “I always wanted to try and figure out how I could be working in Indian country,” says Kunkel. “I always knew I wanted to be working for my own tribe.” --- *woman makes jewelry — Chaslyn Crespin, a citizen of the Kewa Pueblo, makes jewelry (below) in the workspace of her home. Crafts are an essential part of the Kewa economy.* *necklace* > He knows what change he wants to see happen, and if there’s no mechanism for enacting that change, he’ll build the mechanism.” — Madlen Simon, professor, UMD School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation “He was doing so much more than the typical student,” says Madlen Simon, a professor in the School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. “Starting a summer program is an enormous undertaking, and the way he was able to build relationships and make it happen, both on the tribal side and on the bureaucratic UMD side, was super impressive.” After graduating, Kunkel worked in corporate architecture firms before eventually receiving an Enterprise Rose Architectural Fellowship, which matches young architects with leaders in community development to design and build sustainable, high-quality, affordable homes. Kunkel went to southwest New Mexico to work with the Santo Domingo Tribal Housing Authority. Along the way, he and two other Rose Fellows, Jamie Blosser and Nathaniel Corum, developed the nonprofit Sustainable Native Communities Collaborative (SNCC), which focuses on building culturally and environmentally responsive housing for Native people. “He’s got this marvelously entrepreneurial attitude,” says Simon. “He knows what he wants to see in the world, he knows what change he wants to see happen, and if there’s no mechanism for enacting that change, he’ll build the mechanism.” --- **KEWA PUEBLO LOOKS LIKE** a town that America forgot. Residents drive rough dirt roads to leave the pueblo, and they can’t count on internet access. Other than crafts, a gas station just off I-25 is the pueblo’s main source of income; inclined toward a traditional lifestyle, the Santo Domingo have resisted building lucrative casinos on their land. *Joseph Kunkel and Shawn Evans of MASS Design Group review plans — Kunkel and Shawn Evans of MASS Design Group review plans in the firm’s Santa Fe office.* --- **IN ALBUQUERQUE’S BARELAS** neighborhood, Kunkel walks through the cavernous wood frame of the future Barelas Community Kitchen, designed by MASS. Just over 11,000 square feet, the unfinished building is hidden behind a series of worn-out strip malls, easy to overlook until you see it, after which you can’t believe you didn’t see it before. Early on this September morning, Barelas is quiet. Located between the Rio Grande and freight railroad tracks, the district’s main artery, 4th Street SW, is home to auto repair shops, churches and local restaurants. Once Tewa land, Barelas became a stopping point on the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, the historic highway connecting Mexico City to Santa Fe. Its position at a natural ford across the Rio Grande also made it a landing place for many people who crossed the river. A village sprung up, aided by the presence of a railyard, which primarily repaired steam locomotives. By the late 19th century, Barelas grew to have a strong commercial district and bilingual business owners. *Kunkel looks out at the Sandia Mountains from the Barelas Community Kitchen — Kunkel looks out at the Sandia Mountains from the Barelas Community Kitchen, part of a revitalization of the Albuquerque neighborhood.* **Issue:** [Winter 2024](https://terp.umd.edu/editions/winter-2024) **Types:** [Features](https://terp.umd.edu/category/features)