Return-Path: [log in to unmask] Received: from VMS.DC.LSOFT.COM (vms.dc.lsoft.com [206.241.12.2]) by freedom.mtn .org (8.7.6/8.7.3) with ESMTP id OAA30330 for <[log in to unmask]>; Fri, 9 May 1997 1 4:59:21 -0500 Received: from vms.dc.lsoft.com by VMS.DC.LSOFT.COM (LSMTP for OpenVMS v1.1a) wi th SMTP id <[log in to unmask]>; Fri, 9 May 1997 15:55:16 -0500 Received: from UMDD.UMD.EDU by UMDD.UMD.EDU (LISTSERV release 1.8c) with NJE id 7453 for [log in to unmask]; Fri, 9 May 1997 15:41:42 -0400 Received: from UMDD.UMD.EDU by UMDD.UMD.EDU (Mailer R2.10 ptf000) with BSMTP id 9676; Fri, 09 May 97 15:41:14 EDT Received: from uclink4.berkeley.edu by UMDD.UMD.EDU ; 9 May 97 15:41:14 EDT Received: from uclink.berkeley.edu (uclink.berkeley.edu [128.32.155.3]) by uclink4.berkeley.edu (8.8.4/8.6.12) with ESMTP id MAA02888 for <[log in to unmask]>; Fri, 9 May 1997 12:41:17 -0700 (PDT) Received: from localhost (upton@localhost) by uclink.berkeley.edu (8.8.4/8.6.12) with SMTP id MAA23146 for <[log in to unmask]>; Fri, 9 May 1997 12:39:46 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Message-ID: <[log in to unmask]> Date: Fri, 9 May 1997 12:39:45 -0700 Reply-To: Material Culture Study and Methods <[log in to unmask]> Sender: Material Culture Study and Methods <[log in to unmask]> From: Dell Upton <[log in to unmask]> Subject: CFP: Architecture as Sign in Ethnic American Communities (fwd) To: [log in to unmask] Call for Papers: The following session on the relationship of the architectural signing to ethnic-American communities will be held at the Society of Architectural Historians 51st Annual Meeting in Los Angeles, April 15-19, 1998. Paper proposals should be submitted in the form of 250-word abstracts by September 3, 1997. A full range of methodologies and theoretical approaches will be welcome. Architecture as Sign in Ethnic-American Communities Ethnic-American communities have often been under pressure to assimilate into their surrounding environment in order to survive, yet they may also be expected to look exotic or to identify themselves through their architecture. In some communities, there is an interplay between identities generated for tourism or advertisement and community identity. The resulting tension has produced unique architectural works and contexts that provide a complex interplay between ethnic-American communities and their identities. For example, some communities are expected to look exotic; Chinese American communities are supposed to look Chinese, although their architectural ethnicity may have been designed by Anglo-Americans. Conversely, can we identify the buildings designed by Chinese or Chinese Americans on the basis of ethnicity? Other communities may have a name but not an identifiable look or locus to those who do not live in the community. Some communities have urban commercial centers that are identifiable, while the members of the community reside in other areas. The built environment of rural ethnic-American communities may have unique features. Some communities have transformed the built environment into which they have moved by their adaptations, rennovations, and use of space. The complexity of who designed, commissioned, built or occupies buildings in these communities and how the built environment was produced is often not readily apparent or easily decoded. The session papers should raise and generate questions about identity, sign, and community as they relate to the built environment. Lynne Horiuchi, 370 Wurster Hall, University of California; Berkeley, California, 94720; fax & tel: (510) 547 7638; email: [log in to unmask] My apologies for cross-posting, if you receive this call through several avenues. Lynne Horiuchi