---
title: Tribal Loyalties
date: 2024-02-22T05:30:00-05:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/tribal-loyalties"
section: Articles
---
# Tribal Loyalties

*February 22, 2024* — by [Sala Levin ’10](/author/sala-levin-10)


> Alum Designs Homes, Schools, Health Care Centers for Native Communities

*MT feature native 1920x1080 — Wa-Di Housing Development in New Mexico is an affordable community for the federally recognized Kewa Pueblo tribe. Joseph Kunkel M.Arch. '09 is one of the designers of Wa-Di, and a citizen of the Northern Cheyenne Nation. "I always wanted to be ... working in Indian Country," said Kunkel.*

**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*



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*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.*


*tribal jewelry*



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**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.


*two men review plans — Kunkel and Shawn Evans of MASS Design Group review plans in the firm’s Santa Fe office.*



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**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.*



**Sidebar note:**

This story is featured in the Winter 2024 issue of *Terp* magazine. Find all the stories online at [terp.umd.edu](https://terp.umd.edu/).





**Topics:** [People](https://today.umd.edu/tags/people)


**Tags:** [Alumni](https://today.umd.edu/topic/alumni), [Urban Studies and Planning](https://today.umd.edu/topic/urban-studies-and-planning)


**Units:** [School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation](https://today.umd.edu/topic/school-architecture-planning-and-preservation)