Renninger, Sophie
Dissertationsthema:
"Room Tours: A Material History of the U.S. American Home." (working title)
Kontaktadresse an der Universität Würzburg:
Lehrstuhl für Amerikanistik
Am Hubland
97074 Würzburg
Erstbetreuerin: Prof. Dr. MaryAnn Snyder-Körber
Zweitbetreuende:
Klasse in der Graduiertenschule "Philosophie, Sprachen, Künste"
Promotion in der Graduiertenschule ab WS 2021/2022
Abstract:
Homeownership has become an integral part of the modern American dream. After WWII the demand for homes marked an all-time high and highly look-alike residential neighborhoods mushroomed across the United States. The home is known to be a stage for the diversified practices of life, such as hygiene, sleep, play, or work, compartmentalizing life along the lines of a floorplan and assigning each room a central practical purpose and use.
Proceeding from the standardized floorplans of suburban housing, my Ph.D. project seeks to explore the US-American single-family home in a larger historic, cultural and socio-economic development, while also focusing on the phenomenological properties of mundane, perhaps ignored, everyday objects as symptomatic of a standardized way of American life. My project is rooted in the visual arts and material history and utilizes representations of selected interiors to question the validity of a standardized home- and lifestyle. It is the aim of this thesis to offer alternative ideas, object lessons, and readings of contemporary artworks that renegotiate the meaning of living in the U.S.A today.
