Four SAH student members—Aaron Cayer, Eric Peterson, Manuel Shvartzberg, and Sben Korsh (as well as Peggy Deamer)—have edited a collection on the labor of architectural history and theory for The Architecture Lobby. The book, Asymmetric Labors: The Economy of Architecture in Theory and Practice, features contributions from over fifty architectural historians, theorists, students, writers, and practitioners from across the globe—many of whom are SAH members. The texts provide a slice through the uneven terrain of values and unequal labor practices of historical and theoretical architectural work. The booklet is intended to spark a conversation about what the value of such labor is, both within the discipline and profession of architecture, and how it impacts and is impacted by the discursive and material production of the built environment. From the Introduction:

Questions

This booklet is meant to begin a conversation that is not yet focused, not yet resolved, and not yet clear about its terms, but that is necessary to build momentum against uneven values and unjust labor practices in the academy and the profession. Why must adjunct faculty members need welfare, students need debt, PhDs be unemployable, writers scratch for pennies, and public universities privatize? How do these problems relate to the hubris of real estate, environmental destruction, and social inequity in our cities and built environments? We conjecture that there is another way for academic labor and its ramifications to exist robustly—not merely be surviving. 

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