The Evolution of the Marshallese Vernacular House

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis paper investigates the vernacular architecture of the Marshall Islands through a deep-time perspective and demonstrates the Indigenous knowledge present in the production of the Marshallese vernacular house. The focus is on the socio-spatial patterns that represent generations of cultural knowledge and create culturally supportive built-environments, representative of living vernacular architecture. This article investigates the transformations of the Marshallese vernacular house through a diachronic study of habitation on the weto, which is the traditional system of land tenure through matrilineal inheritance. This study presents findings of extensive field work in the Marshall Islands investigating the dialectic relationship of Marshallese culture and its built-environment. To understand fundamental processes to the Marshallese production of space, a multi-sited case study design utilized theoretical replication to establish consistencies across rural, urban, and peri-urban communities. The study found that while manifestations of the Marshallese vernacular house evolve, the core processes remain consistent. The Marshallese vernacular house is a manifestation of generative processes, components of Indigenous knowledge. The Marshallese vernacular house is central to the Indigenous architecture of the Marshall Islands.