Scully, Vincent. "Men and Nature in Pueblo Architecture." In American Indian Art: Form and Tradition, 35-41. New York: Dutton, 1972.
Scully's essay examines pueblo architecture as a reflection of the builders' conception of the relationship between nature and material culture. The resemblance of the buildings to natural forms is an expression of the congruence between nature and humanity (and its products). In a system that sees all parts of the world as intrinsically connected the buildings served as a frame for ritual and later evolved, perhaps in response to increasing desiccation, in terms of the outward orientation of ritual. Scully's conclusions are based on his linguistic analysis, in which he identifies descriptions of space and shape (which the language was believed to lack) by shifting the search from ordinary adjectives to words describing use, and his comparison of the Navajo conception of architecture and nature with those of ancient Greece and Mexico.
Carpenter, Edmund. Eskimo Realities. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1973.
Carpenter organizes anecdotes of his experience with the Eskimos around several themes related to the people's conception of the world. He contrasts his own differently trained senses with theirs and relates their exceptionally keen abilities in many areas to the basics of survival. From this necessary connection the Eskimos' world view and philosophy are examined in relation to cognitive survival strategies. Thus, for example, despite having extremely keen sight and extraordinary visual memories Eskimos do not conceive of space in visual terms. To do so would so often be counterproductive (in darkness or in blizzards) that they would be lost if sight had precedence over hearing.
Wilson, Lee Anne. "Bird and Feline Motifs on Great Lakes Pouches." In Native North American Art History: Selected Readings, ed. Zena Pearlstone Mathews and Aldona Jonaitis, 429-43. Palo Alto...