Redefining Suburban Studies
Searching for a New Paradigm
March 30 and 31, 2001
“Under the direction of Daniel Rubey, Dean of Library and Information Services and Barbara Kelly, Director of Special Collections and Curator of Long Island Studies, Hofstra University presented a conference Redefining Suburban Studies: Searching for a New Paradigm on March 30 and 31, 2001. The conference focused on the evolution and future of the suburbs, as well as the impact of the suburban lifestyle on culture, social interaction, politics, economics, architecture and even organized religion.
Highlights included welcoming remarks by U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer; a keynote address titled "Motion Pictures and the Suburbs" by Philip C. Dolce from Bergen Community College; and the banquet address, "Rethinking the Crabgrass Frontier," by Columbia University's Kenneth T. Jackson. Other prominent experts in American studies participating included Robert Fishman, Professor of Architecture, Urbanism and American Studies at Yale University; and Michael Ebner, Professor and Chair of History at Lake Forest College.
Topics of discussion included:
- Environmental Politics
- Sanctuaries and Social Halls: Putting Religion into Suburban Studies
- Race in the American Dream
- Transportation's Impact on Suburban Form
- Commercial Pattern and Strategies
- Studying Cultures: Concepts and Methods
- Architecture and Suburban Planning
- Ideology and Lifestyle
- The Impact of Municipal Government
- Ranch-O-Rama: The Ranch House in American Suburbs
- Real Estate Rhetoric and the American Dream
- Beyond the Bedroom: The Single Function Suburb
- Representation of Suburbia in the Arts
Redefining Suburban Studies: Searching for a New Paradigm
Info Sheet (PDF file - 116 KB)
Redefining Suburban Studies: Searching for a New Paradigm
Program (PDF file - 4.36 MB)