Bezirdjian, Melina Carla, author

Vehicular vernacular : the mid-Century Airstream as a case study in preservation, nostalgia and subculture formation / by Melina Carla Bezirdjian.

[Ann Arbor, Michigan] : UMI Dissertation Services, [2011].

xiii, 119 pages : illustrations ; 22 cm

Airstream brand travel trailers from the 1950s and 60s have developed a subculture dedicated to their preservation and use. This subculture serves as a case study for how nostalgia, defined in a postmodern context, may promote preservation and creative communion with the past. After examining criticisms of preservation’s focus on material integrity, the discussion focuses on the need to factor user-based relationships into historic preservation. A postmodern reexamination of nostalgia defines it not merely as a longing for the past but also as a form of social critique which seeks to mitigate modernity with the past. Mid-century Airstream preservation reflects a desire to revive specific, positive values of the past in order to ameliorate the future and form temporal continuity. For the mid-century Airstream subculture, nostalgia fosters both restoration and recreation, allowing for an iconic emblem of the past to function in the present rather than fade into obsolescence.
Committee in charge: Dr. Leland Roth, Chairperson; Elizabeth Carter, Member

Airstream trailers Case studies.
Subculture.
Caravanes Airstream Études de cas.
Airstream trailers

theses.
Case studies

Roth, Leland M., degree committee member.
Carter, Elizabeth, 1943- degree committee member.
Linton, Richard, degree committee member
University of Oregon. Graduate School (1946- ), degree granting institution.

Mid-Century Airstream as a Case Study in Preservation, Nostalgia and Subculture Formation

Location: Library main 316251
Call No.: 316251
Status: Available