Constructing A Revisionist Architectural History of the Americas: An Architectural History Colloquium

This colloquium invites you to consider the ways that recent histories of whiteness, settler colonialism, racial capitalism and building labor propel us toward a more equitable architectural history of the Americas. These frames provide new ways of seeing the structural forces that conditioned the canonical histories of national building traditions published from the early nineteenth century to today, from the cultural norms of white elites that were concretized in the rules and standards of professional organizations to the exclusive racial portraits of architectural genius that subtend our understanding of who is most responsible for the heights and complexity of western civilization. Such frames enable us to better assess the blatant omissions, erasures, and biases that were perpetuated by early twentieth century historiographers—from the early histories of Fiske Kimball to the modern and postmodern musings of William Jordy and Vincent Scully—a record that continues to haunt architectural history today.