Architectural Affections

Abstract

This paper explores the significance of subjectivity, and intersubjective relations, in oral history interviews in architecture. Building upon literature from feminist theory, cultural studies and the methodology of oral history itself, the paper examines how questions of identity and gender bear upon what is said and what can be said, by whom and in what way in the performance and performativity of the interview. Speculating on the affects that spin between the interviewer and the interviewed, and their socially coded behaviours and relationships to one another, the paper attends to the significance of professional, disciplinary and identity positions, as they bear upon the speaking position. Touching upon the affective turn, the theoretical valorisation of embodiment and the poetics of intersubjectivity, the paper attempts to contribute to the theory and methodology of oral histories in architecture and feminist practices both in and on architecture.