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The Middle-Class African American Home: Its Objects and Their Meanings Carol Lynnette Hall Iowa State University

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The Middle-Class African American Home: Its Objects and Their Meanings Carol Lynnette Hall Iowa State University Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Retrospective Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 2004 The middle-class African American home: its objects and their meanings Carol Lynnette Hall Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd Part of the African American Studies Commons, American Studies Commons, Family, Life Course, and Society Commons, Home Economics Commons, and the Race and Ethnicity Commons Recommended Citation Hall, Carol Lynnette, "The middle-class African American home: its objects and their meanings " (2004). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. 783. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/783 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Retrospective Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The middle-class African American home: Its objects and their meanings by Carol Lynnette Hall A dissertation submitted to the graduate faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Major: Textiles and Clothing Program of Study Committee Mary Lynn Damhorst, Major Professor Mary Littrell Ann Marie Fiore Christine Cook Chalandra Bryant Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 2004 Copyright © Carol Lynnette Hall, 2004. All rights reserved. UMI Number: 3136316 INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI UMI Microform 3136316 Copyright 2005 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 ii Graduate College Iowa State University This is to certify that the doctoral dissertation of Carol Lynnette Hall has met the dissertation requirements of Iowa State University Signature was redacted for privacy. ij Professor Signature was redacted for privacy. For the Major Prog iii DEDICATION As the tears well up in my eyes, I am thrilled to dedicate my dissertation to my Daddy, Mr. David Wilbert Hall, and my Moma, Mrs. Lillie Dorothy Hall. Words cannot express the unwavering support you guys gave me from the very beginning of my journey at Iowa State University. Thank you for encouraging me to persevere and fight to the end! As the tears now flow from my eyes, I also thank both of you, and God, for your continuous, tremendous support, and giving me the opportunity to pursue and complete this academic experience and degree. Thank you for never letting me give up my dream (which was "our" dream) of earning a doctorate when times looked bleak and hopeless. Thank you for helping me spread my wings and soar to higher heights. Thank you so, so, so much for helping me, Moma and Daddy! I am also happy to dedicate my dissertation to the nine families who eagerly participated in this study. Thank you for opening your homes to me, and contributing to an understanding of the meaning of home and its objects from a middle-class, African American perspective. This study would not have been possible without you guys. And a very special thank you to Mrs. Barbara Oliver Hall and Ron Fuller for locating and identifying a number of prospective families for my study when I was desperately searching for participants. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1 Background 1 Purpose 2 Socioeconomic Status 3 Middle-Class Socioeconomic Status 8 CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE 12 Marriage 12 The Egalitarian Arrangement 14 Preparing children to confront and combat racism 16 Fit of African American Families in U.S. Society 17 Demographic Trends 19 Iowa Demographic Trends 21 Religion 23 The familial aspect of religion 24 The spiritual aspect of religion 25 Addressing Aesthetics 27 Addressing Aesthetics in the African American Home 28 Theoretical Framework 33 House and Home 33 Symbolic Interaction Theory 38 Self 39 Looking glass self 41 Extended self 42 Identities 42 Role 43 Family life cycle 44 Significant others 45 Meanings and Symbols 45 Objects in the Home and their Meaning 46 Setting/Definition of the Situation 51 Research Questions 52 CHAPTER THREE: METHOD 54 Research Approach 54 Case Study 55 Grounded Theory 58 Participants 59 Procedure 60 Data Analysis 65 V Trustworthiness 67 The Researcher 69 CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 76 Background Demographic 76 Housing History 79 Description of Home 81 Emergent Categories 83 Open family life 83 Personal spaces within the home 86 Homes and objects reflecting family relations 86 Decorating the home 90 Disposal 93 De-emphasizing status, emphasizing practicality 97 Accomplishments 100 Utilitarian 102 Uniqueness 103 Memories 105 Hedonics 109 Textiles and clothing 110 Two Overarching Emergent Categories 111 African American ethnicity issues 111 African American religion 116 CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 119 African American Ethnicity Issues 120 African American Religion 123 Usefulness of the Theories 124 Limitations 127 Recommendations for Future Research 128 APPENDIX A: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS 131 APPENDIX B: LETTERS AND CONSENT FORMS 133 APPENDIX C: CODING GUIDE 141 APPENDIX D: HUMAN SUBJECT REVIEW 145 REFERENCES 152 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 160 1 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION Background The topic of relationships between people and home interiors has gained popularity in recent years. Traditionally and historically, anthropologists were the primary scholars studying this phenomenon. Today, psychologists, architects, sociologists, and geographers are also studying this area (which is called environmental psychology). From their diverse fields, they share the same goal to address how "the home interior, in its physical as well as symbolic qualities, is the central aspect of human experience" (Rullo, 1987, p. 250). They also share the goal of addressing how the home interior "provides a unique opportunity for understanding the experience of 'dwelling,' or a person's intimate interaction with objects, spaces, and persons in the home" (Rullo, 1987, p. 250). Duncan (1981) and Altman and Werner (1985) have been instrumental in making contributions to the field of environmental psychology on the topic of the meanings of home. Csikszentmihalyi and Rochberg-Halton's (1981) work has focused on peoples' feelings about their homes, its objects and their meanings. Home is described as a "window to a culture" (Gauvain, Altman, & Fahim, 1984, p. 211). The layout of home and its decorative choices tend to mirror or compliment differences in culture, lifestyle, and social structure (Giuliani, 1987). The home, in terms of personal meaning in addition to an experience, represents the site and center of an individual's place identity, connection, and sense of belonging (Rullo, 1987). Csikszentmihalyi and Rochberg-Halton's (1981) study of the meanings of domestic objects 2 supports the fact that the home's interior is a closer depiction of the dweller's personalities than any other aspect of the home. Regardless of the exterior architectural style (such as, bungalow, mansion, hut, apartment, or townhouse) of peoples' homes, they construct the interior of their homes by using a variety of materials, objects, consumer goods, and convenience products. Many of these items include textiles designed specifically for the home. Home textiles include window treatments, curtains, draperies, fabric wallpaper, bed and bath linens, upholstered furniture, pillows and cushions, carpeting and rugs, fiber arts and other textile-related decorative objects. Purpose The purpose of this study was to explore the sense of self African American families convey in their homes. The sense of self under study is related particularly to culture, identities, beliefs, roles, and interests. By viewing the homes of middle-class African American families and talking to them about their homes and household objects, the researcher strived to gain an understanding of the aesthetic themes employed to decorate their homes, the significance of their homes, and those objects deemed of particular importance to the family. Among those objects, the researcher was especially interested in those made of textile materials—namely, home textile objects. Also of exploration was the symbiotic relationship between the family, home, and the meanings of things in the home. In addition, characteristics of the family in connection to this relationship were also considered. 3 The phenomena studied was how middle-class African American families express themselves and construct their identities through the objects in their homes, including textile-related objects, and the meanings these things hold for them. However, little research of this kind has been conducted to understand a symbiotic relationship between the family, home, and the meaning of things in the home. No existing research of this kind known to the researcher has been conducted on a predominantly
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