Cabinet Members - Tasoulla Hadjiyann
Tasoulla Hadjiyanni’s interests revolve around exploring the discourse between design, culture, and identity as they relate to migration and displacement. Her work theorizes that associating with a culture is not a given; instead it is an identity in becoming and this identity is informed by residential environments. In her doctoral work among Greek-Cypriot refugees (presented in her book ‘The Making of a Refugee – Children Adopting Refugee Identity in Cyprus’ published by Praeger in 2002), Dr. Hadjiyanni argued that being a refugee is not a matter of earning a title upon displacement but an identity largely supported by the disparity between the housing the refugees lost and the housing they found themselves living in.
As a way to further explore how the built environment relates to identity definition under conditions of displacement, Dr. Hadjiyanni is now involved in a cross-cultural study of differences in housing needs among five Twin Cities’ new immigrant and minority groups (Hmong, Somali, Mexicans, African-Americans, and American-Indians). Preliminary results confirmed that living in typical American housing limited Hmong and Somali families’ ability to abide by their cultural practices, causing stress in their lives, and reframing the parameters that sustain their cultural identity definition.
Dr. Hadjiyanni’s active participation in the University’s Internationalizing the Curriculum efforts, resulted in efforts to integrate social science inquiry into design education. Devising new pedagogies that teach the notion of culture to today’s students, Dr. Hadjiyanni uses design as a means of raising awareness and speaking of pressing social issues as well as celebrating the diversity among us.
Dr. Hadjiyanni teaches in the Interior Design program. Dr. Hadjiyanni came to the United States from her native country of Cyprus as an AMIDEAST/FULLBRIGHT scholar to pursue a Bachelor of Architecture degree at Carnegie Mellon University. There, she also received a Master’s degree in Urban Development and Management—a collaboration between the Department of Architecture and the School of Urban and Public Affairs (the Heinz School). She then joined the University of Minnesota’s Department of Design, Housing, and Apparel and completed her Ph.D. in the area of housing. She is married and has two young daughters.