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A DIALECTIC OF PERSONAL AND COMMUNAL AESTHETICS: YARD ORNAMENTATION IN NORTH EASTERN AMERICA |
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In The Journal of Popular Culture 26.3 (Winter, 1992): 91-105. |
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ABSTRACT |
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The activities of ornamentation of the house exterior and landscaping of the front lawn in American suburban dwellings sets in motion a continuous dialectic between individual identities and the implicit and explicit social codes of a community. Display of personal taste in the decoration of the house-front and yard serves to introduce the occupants and to distance the dwelling from the public sphere. Conversely, the activity has a significant social dimension. Although conducted in a private space, the decorative effects are clearly for public viewing and appreciation. These contradictory mediations (personal versus communal aesthetics) may account for the simultaneous visual diversity and homogeneity of micro-landscapes in suburbia.
This essay is based on research conducted in two tract-housing neighborhoods in up-state New York during the summer of 1987. Choice of locale was based on the hypothesis that manipulations of the built environment by individuals would be most striking in the uniform spatial allocations of tract-housing complexes. This comparative framework aided in assessing the impact of variables such as family income, spatial context and cultural practice, on patterns of exterior space utilization. |