The Gibbs College of Architecture congratulates Dr. Laura Harjo, associate professor of Native American Studies and an affiliate faculty member in Gibbs’ Division of Regional + City Planning, as her book Spiral to the Stars: Mvskoke Tools of Futurity has been awarded the 2021 On the Brinck Book Award!
The On the Brinck Book Award is presented in honor of J.B. Jackson. Jurors for the award chose four books to receive the honor. They wanted to emphasize books that share fresh voices and integrate concepts across disciplines.
The winning volumes embody the spirit of J.B. Jackson and contribute to knowledge and perspectives across the design disciplines. Head juror, UNM School of Architecture + Planning Assistant Professor Kathleen Kambic, states: “We see these four volumes signaling an openness within design discourse. Each book deals with broad themes of race, environment, and climate through contestation and integration of existing ideas.”
Spiral to the Stars: Mvskoke Tools of Futurity employs Mvskoke epistemologies and Indigenous feminisms to grapple with a community praxis of futurity. The book is organized around four methodologies—radical sovereignty, community knowledge, collective power, and emergence geographies. It provides a path that departs from traditional community-making strategies, which are often extensions of the settler state.
Jurors for the On the Brinck wrote that Spiral to the Stars, “is a remarkable and original volume. It validates indigeneity and contextualizes western thinking within it by bringing additional voices to the forefront. The ontological approaches Harjo proposes are valuable blueprints for community engagement. Harjo shares a concept of radical sovereignty that reveals the value of marginalized communities to those who may not have knowledge of them. It is a powerful and expansive view of the potentials of design. This book will be captivating for students, reinforcing the importance of new types of scholarship. This volume starts with community and grounds itself in the personal experience and accessible writing of Harjo.”
Spiral to the Stars was also awarded the 2020 Beatrice Medicine Award for Best Published Monograph. You can read more about and purchase the book through the University of Arizona Press.
Dr. Harjo is Mvskoke scholar, whose research and teaching centers around three areas: imbuing complexity to Indigenous space and place, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives and anti-violence, and community-based knowledge production. She currently serves on the board of directors for the Indian Land Tenure Foundation.
Gibbs College of Architecture is proud to recognize Petya Stefanoff, who is pursuing her doctorate in the Planning, Design & Construction (PDC) program, has been appointed the new role of Director of Community Development for the City of Shawnee, Oklahoma. She joined the city in 2024.
Gibbs College of Architecture is pleased to announce that Amber N. Wiley, Ph.D., associate professor in the Division of Planning, Landscape Architecture and Design and director of the Institute for Quality Communities, has received national recognition for her book Model Schools in the Model City. The book has been named a finalist for the 2026 the PROSE Awards.
Gibbs College of Architecture Regional + City Planning Professor of Practice Vanessa Morrison and Associate Professor of Architecture Deborah Richards’ Open Design Collective received top honors at the inaugural BlackSpace Urbanist Collective Studio KIN Pitch Night Competition, held last month in Brooklyn, New York City.
