Tea at Trianon: Interior Race Theory

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Sunday, February 26, 2023

Interior Race Theory

Because houses can be racist, at least according to an article in Clever. Yes, white rooms are racist. So are columns. And mammy jars, of course. (Who would have those?) Oh yes, and rectangular dining room tables represent patriarchy. Such is critical race theory applied to American homes. Conservative values align to whiteness, but do not tell that to Thomas Sowell, Larry Elder, Candace Owens, Carol Swain, or any of the black conservatives who are brilliantly shaping the current conversations about morality, citizenship and civil rights. From AD's Clever:

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. 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. “What you fill your home with can also condition you to hold [certain] values,” Jacquelyn explains. For instance, “The use of the color white has been weaponized to symbolize purity…. There’s a lot of ways that this theory can deconstruct conservative values that really align with whiteness.”
Colors and lighting can be used to make people feel a certain way, but Jacquelyn argues that these decisions are not usually made with intersectionality in mind. Most designers, she believes, aren’t contemplating the nuances of what wellness looks like from the point of view of “folks who are either experiencing oppression or benefiting from oppression.” In the process of designing a space, she wants more people to think about how their home might influence the behaviors of others and consider what values they are trying to instill in the people that inhabit or visit this domestic environment. Jacquelyn notes how something as simple as the style of a dining table can enforce certain ideas within a space—a circular table could symbolize more community-oriented values, while rectangular shapes might represent patriarchal ideals (i.e. the man sits at the head). (Read more.)

I come from a white family...we are descended from people who lived in the British isles for more than a thousand years, and most of them are white. My mother was born in the Philippines and through her we proudly have Spanish, Chinese and Malaysian blood, but it does not show up much, except in the brown-black eyes which some of us have. One of my sisters wanted to be African American when she was little because we all loved Dionne Warwick. When we played with dolls, my sister insisted that her dolls be black. She had an entire family of black dolls. But now I wonder if her innocent admiration would be considered opposed to critical race theory and a symbol of oppression.