The meanings, changes, and challenges of the Grandmother’s house in Mosuo vernacular dwellings in Northwest Yunnan

Abstract

This study investigates the Mosuo culture identity and transitions in the context of contemporary China. The Mosuo people are a small ethnic group who live in the highland regions close to the border with Tibet. At the center of values and architectural forms of Mosuo dwellings, the Grandmother’s house is explored in this study to see how identity is expressed through spatial organization, from houses, ornamentation, furniture, and furnishings to daily activities, life cycle events, and rituals. In April 2017, data was collected through ethnographical observations and interviews with 23 family members from five Mosuo households on their perceptions of the Grandmother’s house. Drawings were also used as a method to understand and analyze interior and architectural features of the Grandmother’s house. Elements of the Grandmother’s house that are meaningful and preserved include the female and male columns, low doors, hearths, Zambala, Guozhuang stone and Situo, the back room, and wood shingle roof. These elements constitute a “constant” in the construction of a Grandmother’s house and serve to promote the continuity and consistency inherent in traditional Mosuo dwelling, embodying Mosuo culture and values in the built form. The methods and findings presented in this paper aim to provide a comprehensive study/investigation of the Grandmother’s house and its spatial evolution, and to start a debate on the fate of this building.

KEYWORDS:

• Grandmother’s house
• Mosuo dwellings
• Northwest Yunnan
• meanings
• changes
• challenge

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Supplemental data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here: https://doi.org/10.1080/20419112.2022.2160135

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Notes on contributors

Huichao Feng

Dr Huichao Feng is Lecturer of Environmental Design at the School of Art and Design of Zhejiang Sci-Tech University. Huichao completed her PhD from the School of Architecture and Design at the Birmingham City University (BCU), and her MA in Interior Design from BCU. Her Doctoral study focuses on the relationship between the Mosuo dwellings as ‘inhabited space’, architectural form and its evolution in the face of modern pressures, regarding the impact of cultural and social change and how these changes are reflected in new architectural forms. Key idea is to generate a new framework of interpreting changes and continuity of Mosuo dwellings in transitions- Cultural Architectural Assets. E-mail: [email protected]

Jieling Xiao

Dr Jieling Xiao is Reader in Environmental Design at the School of Architecture and Design of Birmingham City University. She obtained her MArch in Urban Design from University College London (UCL) and completed her PhD from the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at the University of Sheffield, exploring smellscapes in intermodal transit spaces in the UK and China. Jieling’s research focuses on theories and practices of place-making and environmental design through people’s sensory experiences, particularly soundscape and smellscape.

Yun Gao

Dr Yun Gao is Reader in Architecture and Subject Group Leader of Architecture and Built Environment at the Department of Architecture and 3D Design, the University of Huddersfield. She received her PhD in Architecture from the University of Edinburgh in the late 1990s. Her academic research explores design of socially responsible and environmentally sustainable built environment, traditional and cultural changes reflected in architectural and urban development in developing countries, and cross-cultural architectural design and education.

and Fan Xia

Professor Fan Xia is a teacher in Fashion Design at the School of Fashion Design and Engineering, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University. He focuses on minority costumes and ethnic culture research. And he has been awarded more than 20 research funding projects, among which his work was supported by a grant (key grant) from the National Social Science Fund of China (2019-2024) (19AMZ009), named Research on national costume culture based on the investigation data of Westerners in Southwest China from the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China.