ARC 342R.2 / ARC 388R.2 Seminar
Tues/Thurs 12:30 – 2:00pm, SUT 2.112
Open to all SOA students
Tara Dudley: taradudley@utexas.edu
This course considers the built environment in the United States from Pre-Columbian times to the present. It is arranged chronologically and thematically as a broad survey and considers national and regional identities; responses to rapid economic and social change; and contexts of race, ethnicity, class, and gender within the US built environment. The course examines aspects of vernacular building and regional building. Architecture in the American South and Southwest, including Texas, is highlighted within these broader contexts. American Architecture carries the flag for Cultural Diversity in the United States. The purpose of the Cultural Diversity in the United States Flag is for students to explore in depth the shared practices and beliefs of one or more underrepresented cultural groups subject to persistent marginalization. In addition to learning about these diverse groups in relation to their specific contexts, students will engage in an active process of critical reflection. A substantial portion of students’ grades will come from assignments covering the practices, beliefs, and histories of various underrepresented cultural groups in the U.S. Required readings will be drawn from texts offering diverse viewpoints of American history and architecture.
Other Recommended Texts:
Dunbar-Ortiz, Roxanne. An indigenous peoples' history of the United States (2014); Mays, Kyle T. An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States (2021); Ortiz, Paul. An African American and Latinx History of the United States (2018); Zinn, Howard. A People’s History of the United States (35th anniversary edition, 2015); Zinn, Howard and Anthony Arnove. Voices of a People’s History of the United States (2004; rev. 2014).
Useful References:
Maynard, W. Barksdale. Architecture in the United States: 1800-1850 (2002); McAlester, Virginia Savage. A Field Guide to American Houses: The Definitive Guide to Identifying and Understanding America’s Domestic Architecture (1984; 2nd edition, 2013); Roth, Leland M. American Architecture: A History (any edition).
