On My Conference Presentation
“…in trying to expand modern architectural critical history, the big
issue is, what do you include, and what do you exclude, what is the criteria
for judgment…” (1)
Kenneth Frampton, 2016 Ware Professor of Architecture at Columbia
GSAPP
“….There is plenty of anecdotal information that suggests there has
been progress in building a more diverse and inclusive profession. Yet, the
information is just that- anecdotal…..We need data not anecdote…” (2)
Elizabeth Chu Richter, 2016 FAIA 2015 AIA President
As one of the
speakers (joint abstract and conference presentation with Dr. Rapti and Dr.
Ramirez-Jasso) (3) at the WikiConference North America 2019 held at
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (main conference theme:
reliability/credibility; 8-11 November 2019), I talked about the importance of
(reliable) data on underrepresented communities, migrants and foreign-born
architects in multicultural US architecture, in particular in Trump’s America within my presentation time
limit. Defining reliability as accurate
(conveying the true situation), complete (providing all necessary data),
precise (having the required level of detail), and timely (being avaliable in
time to make decisions), as a (feminist) scholar in architecture, I emphasized “the lack of data” on historical
documentation on “diverse” profiles of architects and architecture students (in
practice, academia and education), and why we “strongly” need this data / information
in order to support and reinforce the understanding of “inclusive” citizenship
in today’s US as well as in the global world.
My conference
presentation is based on my current research project and its early findings on “diversity”
in archives at some pioneering schools of architecture in the US. It is
in-progress and all rights reserved.
In addition, I am
so happy to read “Women of MIT Wikipedia Hackathon” by the MIT Museum that was
organized on August 6, 2019 (see: https://mitmuseum.mit.edu/calendar/women-mit-wikipedia-hackathon,
accessed on 11.7.2019) after my conversation with dear Gary Van Zante on my
current research project on “diversity and underrepresented communites in
archives at some pioneering school of architecture in the US” on 4.4.2019. His
written answers to my research questions (he kindly responded to my research
questions by e-mail on 5.16.2019) has really motivated me to continue my
research studies on my research problem. I think that we can make progress for
the sake of more diverse and inclusive historical documentation on (the US)
architecture; and collaborative effort with (feminist) scholars, archivists,
curators, librarians, professors, practitioners and students is so vital….
1.Please see for
Kenneth Frampton conversation at the Harvard University, GSD, ChinaGSD
Distinguished Lecture: Professor Kenneth Frampton, “Chinese Architecture”,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8asbjkin-W0&t=3756s, (1:01:06), 10.29.2019.
2. Please see for
its reference, Diversity in the Profession of Architecture Executive Summary
2016, the American Institute of Architects,
http://content.aia.org/sites/default/files/2016-05/Diversity-DiversityinArchitecture.pdf,
p. 2, accessed on 10.15.2019
3. Our abstract
reference: Rapti, V.,
Ekincioglu, M., Ramirez-Jasso, D., 2019, “Citizen TALES
Commons: A Collaborative Multi-Disciplinary Model of
Ethical, Reliable and Inclusive Production and Dissemination of
Knowledge around Issues of Citizenship Today”, WikiConference North America,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, US,
November 8-11.
With my thanks to Dr. Rapti and Dr. Ramirez-Jasso for our inspiring joint
conference presentation at Wikiconference North America at MIT.
My note: Trained as an architect,
my mission and aim as a Citizen TALES Commons member is to stimulate fresh and
critical discussions on “diverse and inclusive architecture” and its potential
for the understanding of inclusive citizenship. Please see for my profile as
Citizen TALES member: https://citizentales.squarespace.com/team,
accessed on 11.11.2019.