Architectural Digest: Interior Race Theory
When we talk about diversity in design and architecture, there’s often a call for decolonizing the space. Everyone is fully aware that the landscape of the field needs to change, but what about rebuilding the foundation?
I might enjoy living in a yurt or a wattle-and-daub mud hut, but this article is dumb. When I was in college, the engineering students thought that the architecture students were working harder than we were. It looks like Diversity, Inclusion and Equity has infected their programs. It doesn’t take many diversity students to ruin a field since the student can never be criticized.
Although our homes serve as safe spaces for us to retreat from the chaos of the world, interiors are a direct reflection of our points of view.
That makes sense, but it’s pretty simplistic for an architect. Our homes reflect our culture, interests, hobbies, family and financial status. I guess you can lump that into “points of view”, but it seems shady.
I have previously touched on this issue when I unpacked how the cottagecore trend signaled a shift toward a mentality that I described as “colonizercore”—the commodification of this whitewashed aesthetic has opened the door for romanticizing colonialism while erasing the historical narrative of BIPOC communities in America.
This is an example of cottagecore decor:
I’m not nuts about adding the suffix “core” to indicate a particular aesthetic or style, but that’s just grumpy old man talk. It is convenient to name the style one is trying to implement. I have an aesthetic I’m leaning toward, but lack sufficient commitment to research what it is or try to implement it. If I can keep my house clean, uncluttered and functional, that would be an accomplishment.
The author considers cottagecore to be colonizercore. The style of that bedroom doesn’t suit me, but I think I’d like British colonizercore. That would be mahogany furniture and a bunch of parlor palms. If no one has named it, let’s call it Rajcore.
At some point, we have to get over the idea that colonization is bad. Or maybe someone can explain it better. Colonization, migration and appropriation is the story of mankind. It was brutal. However, it worked for America. Had the Americas never been colonized, we’d still be living in wigwams and hunting more animals to extinction. Had the British not colonized India, someone else would have. India, China, Russia and Europe have always had feuds, invasions and conquerors.
Would India have been better off if left alone? Doubt it. Could Britain have managed India in a way that allowed them to remain a colony? Maybe, it worked out for Canada and Australia. Playing “What If” is pointless except for interesting alt-history fiction.
The idea for interior race theory stemmed from Jacquelyn’s experiences as a Black woman in spaces dominated by whiteness and the many instances where she found herself asking, “What would it look like to come back to a space that felt safe?”
So Jacquelyn is a racist. Why should she be given any consideration?
Jacquelyn attributes this ongoing absence of cultural competency to a lack of sensitivity, pointing out how some people still decorate their homes with racist objects such as mammy jars, colonial busts, war memorabilia, and Confederate flags.
Jacquelyn is hyper-sensitive and should leave people to decorate any way they want. It’s possible she doesn’t know any white people. I don’t even know what a “mammy jar” is and have never seen anyone decorate with any of the things she mentioned. That’s after living in South Carolina for almost two years and being in houses of people who affectionately call Black children “pickaninnies”.
The intent behind the practice of interior race theory is to radicalize the disciplines of design and architecture by challenging people to think more critically about the home as an extension of self and how we represent ourselves.
Anything ending in “race theory” is designed to radicalize and alienate. The point is to drive racial animosity to disrupt civilization. Interior Race Theory and it’s proponents should be driven out of any institution that supports Western civilization.