Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 Architecture: A White Gentlemen's Prefession? Chapter 3 Out in the World: The Reality of Practice Chapter 4 Certified Minority: The Perception and the Reality Chapter 5 Crazy-Making: Running a Business Chapter 6 It's Who You Know: The Importance of Social Networks Chapter 7 Summary and Recommendations
Victoria Kaplan has worked in finance for the last twenty years. She served as a corporate financial analyst and managed a community development venture capital fund. She brings her MBA in finance and her PhD in human and organizational development together to work for economic and social justice. She is the founder of writing for change, an organization that uses storytelling as a vehicle to educate audiences about systemic racism.
Even at the start of the 21st century, African Americans still
comprise only 1% of the membership of American Institute of
Architects (AIA). In Structural Inequality, Victoria Kaplan gets
under the skin of that 1%. Their compelling stories reveal the
ironies confronting African Americans in architectural practice:
love/hate relationships with the AIA, opportunities and stigmas
associated with government set-aside programs, the pains of
invisibility coupled with the burdens of high visibility. They
underscore the value of mentoring—both as mentor and mentee,
connecting with communities and colleagues through the National
Organization of Minority Architects, and the delicate balancing act
needed to manage their firms. They also point to new opportunities
of operating globally. Structural Inequality is should be required
reading for all of us who strive for greater diversity in the
architecture profession.
*Kathryn Anthony, Professor at the University of Illinois and
Author ofDesigning for Diversity*
Architecture is not an occupation noted for its self-examination.
Into this pool of complacency, Kaplan's book arrives as a
well-aimed shot that should cause ripples for years. This
impassioned ethnography shows what it is like to be a black
architect in America, and how the invisible—and hence
unquestioned—social web within the occupation operates to
marginalize not only the black architect's work, but their very
existence.
*Garry Stevens, author of The Favored Circle*
In this unique book, Victoria Kaplan brings us the seldom-heard
voices of black architects communicating their experiences in their
chosen profession. Though they advocate, and are even passionate
about, the fundamental tenets of the profession, institutional
racism excludes black architects from the “commanding heights.”
Kaplan sheds new light on the persistence of racism in the field of
architecture and its impoverishing effect on our culture.
*Magali Sarfatti Larson, author of Behind the Postmodern
Facade*
Appropriate for all, from general audiences through graduate
students and professionals. Recommended.
*CHOICE*
Victoria Kaplan has produced a wonderful book that exposes how
racial considerations severely limit the opportunities of black
architects in what is still regarded as a "white gentlemen's
profession." Based on ethnographic data with twenty black
architects from all over the United States, Kaplan documents how
black architects are excluded from networks that result in getting
the good jobs, are disliked by customers who want to work with
architects who are like them, and are relegated to secondary job
assignments when they work in firms. Although her focus is black
architects, she shows how racism works in the hearts and minds of
nice white middle class folks and makes them behave in ways that
reproduce the racial status quo even when dealing with those they
regard as “exceptional blacks.” This is a fascinating discussion of
the interstices of subtle, smiling discrimination.
*Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, Duke University; author of Racism Without
Racists*
Ask a Question About this Product More... |