Index# 19430
Will Count Toward SAS - Art History Major
Will Count Toward SAS - Art History Minor
This interdisciplinary honors seminar is an examination of the relationship between the ideals of democratic urban life, ways that these ideals are physically and symbolically constructed, and the lived experience of those spaces. The central theme to this urban investigation is Washington: Symbol and City. As such, students will interrogate the founding principles of Washington’s development as a federal neutral ground between North and South, and why this land in Maryland and Virginia was chosen as a capital for a new nation (as opposed to already extant cities like New York, Boston, or Philadelphia). They will also think critically about the lives of disenfranchised Washingtonians, who reside within the shadow of the capital, many of whom have been in the city for generations.
The course explores such topics as: cultural geography of the early republic, urban planning for a new democracy, the effect of industrialization on the city, the waves of rural migration and overseas immigration that changed the social demographics of the city, the impact of the City Beautiful and urban renewal, monuments and the national memory, as well as historic preservation and gentrification.
Our investigation into the city of Washington, D.C. will include methods and theory from anthropology, art history, architecture, geography, history, landscape studies, and planning. We will use both primary and secondary sources to gain an understanding of the city over time; the course readings will be coupled with representations of the city in various media – art, film, music, novels, and poetry. Students should be willing to complete the reading, think deeply about the themes covered, and come prepared to participate in class.
About Professor Wiley
AMBER WILEY specializes in architecture, urbanism, and African American cultural studies. Her research interests are centered on the social aspects of design and how it affects urban communities - architecture as a literal and figural structure of power. She focuses on the ways local and national bodies have made the claim for the dominating narrative and collective memory of cities and examines how preservation and public history contribute to the creation and maintenance of the identity and “sense of place” of a city.
Professor Wiley was named a 2016 Emerging Scholar by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education magazine and was awarded the inaugural H. Allen Brooks Travelling Fellowship from the Society of Architectural Historians. She traveled to Mexico, Guatemala, Ghana, Ethiopia, India, and Vietnam during the 2014-2015 academic year. She is active in preservation policy as well as various professional organizations. She has served on the National Park System Advisory Board Landmarks Committee, and on the boards of the Vernacular Architecture Forum, Latrobe Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians, and the Yale Black Alumni Association.