FSEM 101 - No Place Like Home: The American House as Biography

In this seminar we will consider the intersection of American domestic architecture and personal identity, taking into account the ways that gender, class, race, sexuality, regional identity, and morality have shaped (and in some cases revolutionized) the places we call home. From cabins built by enslaved men and women in the nineteenth century, to the space-age bachelor pads of the 1960s, our homes tell stories about who we are, who we were, and who we aspire to be. Students will examine a range of theoretical writings on domestic architecture, develop “visual literacy” through the analysis of images and plans, and consider the ways biography has been interpreted (or re-interpreted) in historic house museums.

Credits 1