The Art of the Airport: Using Public History and Material Culture to Humanize and Interpret the American Airport

Abstract

In recent decades, government officials and social scientists have increased their study of American airports and their relationship to security and national defense. Despite the growing attention, airports remain interpreted primarily as homogenized, transient spaces deprived of any culturally unique qualities. This thesis will study American airports as historical artifacts with significant layers of meaning. If contextualized and situated within a broader historical framework, then airports expose larger trends throughout American history including resistance to multiculturalism and diversity. The stress and anxiety often associated with airports reflect a prolonged struggle to embrace the democratization of public places. If studied with an historical approach from multiple perspectives, then the airport provides historians with a tangible, familiar object to engage popular audiences about complicated issues such as surveillance, xenophobia, and urban renewal. This thesis proposes a conceptual framework for historians to assess the significance of airport space and offers suggestions to better engage the national conversations surrounding these complicated spaces.