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Architects and Anthropologists: Rapprochements and Estrangements in the Study of Vernacular Architecture

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Architecture and the Social Sciences

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Abstract

Throughout the twentieth-century, architecture and anthropology shared an interest in rural settlements and its material culture, ending up constructing vernacular architecture as a subject of scientific research. Notwithstanding, an intertwined approach was only adopted in Portugal by the 1980s. This chapter examines the rapprochements and estrangements of architects and anthropologists in the study of vernacular architecture in order to discuss the extent of their interdisciplinary subtexts, propositions and accomplishments. Particular attention will be paid to the studies initiated in the 1980s as the turning point that set out the basis for new conceptual and methodological formulations. These echo its contemporary epistemological revision, the postmodern thirst for experimentation, and the sociocultural transformations of a country emerging from stagnation. But, more importantly, they put vernacular culture at the core of debates on heritage, categories of culture, and disciplinary jurisdictions, widening the scope of its political and intellectual uses and so too the frameworks for its understanding. Looking into three case studies’ published materials and their authors’ testimonies, this chapter collates the concepts and methods of anthropologists and architects in the study of vernacular and popular architecture, but assesses interdisciplinarity further beyond, taking into account the praxis, the subjects and the politics of anthropology and architecture.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The term vernacular will be used throughout the text accordingly to Vellinga’s (2011) conceptualisation.

  2. 2.

    For clarity of reading, these research and publications will be addressed only as Azores, Madeira and Casas de sonhos throughout the chapter.

  3. 3.

    Victor Mestre, 10 September 2012 and 16 April 2013 (Azores and Madeira); João Vieira Caldas, 24 October 2012 and 8 July 2013 (Azores); António Freitas Leal, 27 May 2013 (Azores); Cristina Santinho, 4 June 2013 (Azores); José Manuel Fernandes, 12 June 2013 (Azores); Jorge Mesquita, 22 July 2013 (Azores); Isabel Raposo, 9 October 2013 (Casas de sonhos); Ana Tostões, 22 May 2015 (Azores).

  4. 4.

    The research was initiated by a team composed of six architects and two anthropologists. The second team assembled seven architects exclusively.

  5. 5.

    The initial team included one anthropologist and an anthropology-sensitive sociologist.

  6. 6.

    The Portuguese word popular simultaneously stands for the English words vernacular, folk, popular, well-known or notorious.

  7. 7.

    Acknowledging the double sense of Oliver and Vellinga’s conceptions of vernacular, the interviewed authors distinguish them using the terms vernacular and popular, but not always in the same correspondence.

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Acknowledgments

This research is funded by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) in the form of a post-doctoral research fellowship (SFRH/BPD/75978/2011), and in the scope of CRIA’s strategic plan UID/ANT/04038/2013.

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  1. CRIA (Centro em Rede de Investigação em Antropologia), Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal

    Marta Lalanda Prista

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Correspondence to Marta Lalanda Prista .

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  1. CIES-IUL, Instituto Universitário de Lisboa CIES-IUL, Lisboa, Portugal

    Maria Manuela Mendes

  2. Faculdade de Arquitectura, Universidade Técnica de Lisboa (CIAUD), Lisboa, Portugal

    Teresa Sá

  3. CIAUD, Faculdade de Arquitectura, Universidade Técnica de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal

    João Cabral

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Prista, M.L. (2017). Architects and Anthropologists: Rapprochements and Estrangements in the Study of Vernacular Architecture. In: Manuela Mendes, M., Sá, T., Cabral, J. (eds) Architecture and the Social Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53477-0_5

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