Spiral Journeys: Exploring Native American Worldviews by Reading the Spiritual Language of Landscape, and the Development of a Culturally Competent Method in Landscape Design

This thesis examines the relationship between Native American created landscapes and the spiritual beliefs and worldviews of the people who created them. It looks at landscape as a common language that has been lost to most of us as our modern society has moved towards technology and away from nature. We need to relearn this language as an important source of information about landscape systems and how we might restore and sustain them. The thesis analyzes how the people use form and space to create places that have symbolic meaning. It also explores the idea that landscapes are related to the cosmos using both the axial alignment of the cardinal directions and the ancient celestial calendar. Three sites from different time periods are analyzed using a case study methodology to better understand these relationships.;Understanding these elements make clear an ongoing connection between past, present, and future that, for Native American people, ties worldview to significant places, many of which have been taken from them. This thesis discusses the issues of land loss and the disruption of cultural knowledge and practices, the importance of land in place-based cultures, self-determination and sovereignty, and the stewardship of resources and sustainability in a contemporary context.;Lastly, these interrelated issues give insight into the need to develop a culturally competent approach to landscape design that can be used in work with Native Americans. Drawing from the lessons learned in the case studies, cultural competency practices from other disciplines, and adapting and combining current approaches to landscape architecture, I propose a comprehensive method to meet this need, one that may provide an appropriate model for methodologies that can be used with other cultural groups.