Roble (a freelance photographer and founder of the Somali Documentary Project) and Rutledge (a writer for the Somali Documentary Project) document the lives of Somali immigrants to the United States with black and white photographs and brief essays. A broad range of Somalis are depicted, but one particular family receives particular attention as they move from Dadaab in Somalia to Columbus, Ohio. The focus of the volume is the depiction of Somalis engaged in the mundane activities of everyday life, from fetching water or unloading grain in Dadaab to attending public high schools in Columbus. Other Somali communities in the United States other than Columbus also appear, most notably Minneapolis. Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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A rare exploration of the racial and class politics of architecture, Little White Houses examines how postwar media representations associated the ordinary single-family house with middle-class whites to the exclusion of others, creating a powerful and invidious cultural iconography that continues to resonate today. Drawing from popular and trade magazines, floor plans and architectural drawings, television programs, advertisements, and beyond, Dianne Harris shows how the depiction of houses and their interiors, furnishings, and landscapes shaped and reinforced the ways in which Americans perceived white, middle-class identities and helped support a housing market already defined by racial segregation and deep economic inequalities.After describing the ordinary postwar house and its orderly, prescribed layout, Harris analyzes how cultural iconography associated these houses with middle-class whites and an ideal of white domesticity. She traces how homeowners were urged to buy specific kinds of furniture and other domestic objects and how the appropriate storage and display of these possessions was linked to race and class by designers, tastemakers, and publishers. Harris also investigates lawns, fences, indoor-outdoor spaces, and other aspects of the postwar home and analyzes their contribution to the assumption that the rightful owners of ordinary houses were white.Richly detailed, Little White Houses adds a new dimension to our understanding of race in America and the inequalities that persist in the U.S. housing market.
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