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In A Barbie World: The Rise Of Single Women

Decent Essays

Trulia posted an article in 2013 by Jed Kolko, “In A Barbie World: The Rise of Single Women Homeowners in America,” that investigated the rise in percentage of single women owning single family detached home like Barbie (Jed Kolko, 2013). Kolko touched upon the changing social and cultural factors, and I wanted to know more, I assumed and wanted to explore the changes single women homeowners made on the gender and race structure and if it impacted the home in any way. To uncover these possible changes the center of my research is on the house, an object that I argue is symbolic in expressing the obtainment of the American Dream, where homeowners held a stake in the prosperity of American democracy. In this essay I explore the field of material …show more content…

The material culture field of study allows for the examination of objects to reveal the culture which used them (Glassie, 1999; Woodward, 2007). Material culture is not a method but a collection of methods appropriate to its interdisciplinary nature of the field and its scholars, and I must indicate what approaches or methods guide my research and explain my findings (Woodward, 2007). The benefits of material culture are that it can reveal the daily lives, behaviors, and actions of average people that have otherwise been deemed …show more content…

“Learning to read architecture-an ability that centers on a kind of visual and spatially oriented analysis-is not easy” (Carter & Cromley, 2005, p. xvi).The short history of the field makes this guide a valuable tool for emerging scholars as it introduces the field, guides them to conducting research on vernacular buildings, and invites them in participating in shaping the field by adding their own scholarship. What is significant about this guide for young researchers is that is explains how fieldwork lacks categorical clarity and can be messy, and it is in this confusion that researchers can reveal the priorities, values, and lifestyle of the users. Renovations and additions are part of the built form and it results in making it difficult to categorize material, roof type, and windows resulting in the struggle to categorize as the field work becomes more descriptive than prescriptive. It can and does indicate social hierarchies and power dynamics within the culture, by reading this guide young scholars can begin to understand how to read buildings and understand what they tell us. Material culture and vernacular architect explores the relationship between objects and/or buildings with people, and both

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