Surya Cannon
Class of 2024: Art History Major, Architecture Minor
Pronouns: she/her
Current research project: I am primarily interested in how different relationships to "nature" across history have defined the built environment — urban planning, infrastructure, and architecture. My current research focuses on this tension in West Texas/Comancheria during 1750-1950, where many immigrant cultural groups tried, and often failed, to use architectural and community-organizing techniques based on their home environment (the American South, Europe, the Great Basin, or elsewhere) on the flat, arid Llano Estacado. A historical understanding of how "carbon modernity" came to be — the physical structures like highways, oil rigs, and skyscrapers that accommodate and perpetuate the extractive, fossil fuel-reliant way we live now — is instrumental to moving and building in ways that will better support planet and people.
Post-Duke plans: After Duke, I will most likely work or participate in a research fellowship for a year or two, then pursue a M.Arch degree and work as a practicing architect/designer. However, I am also considering pursuing further studies (PhD/MFA) in environmental humanities or textile arts/applications.