Interrogating Difference: Postcolonial Perspectives in Architecture and Urbanism / Jyoti Hosagrahar / 2012

Hosagrahar in her survey article on the Postcolonial thought interrogates changing perspectives on architecture and urbanism in the colonized world. Her arguing of intellectual decolonization is reminiscent of Chatterjee's challenging question -- should even the thoughts of the colonial world remain colonized forever? She introduces the emergence of postcolonial thought as a rebellion to "dominance of universalizing paradigms and simplistic categorizations in conventional scholarship in architecture and urbanism focused on Western Europe and North America. Simply, it is thinking about the "relationship  between a dominant power and its subjects under colonialism."

The essay begins with a discussion of key ideas and concepts in postcolonial theory and the influence of decades of postcolonial critiques on architecture and urbanism.
Frantz Fanon's "The Wretched of Earth" (1961) that critiqued French colonization of Algeria, denounced psychopathology of colonialism and forewarned about the violence in the aftermath of independence struggles. It inspired anti-colonial liberation movements for decades
Edward Said's "Orientalism" (1978) was a literary analysis of the creation of the 'Orient', and discussed learned Orientalists who disdained indigenous scholars and bestowed authority to historical texts by European scholars. Said showed that identity was culturally constructed and paved way for architectural historians to study buildings and the urban fabric as cultural documents that could reveal hidden biases.
Foucalt's seminal works on Power, Knowledge, and Culture presented the networks of power that could dominate without the assertion of physical force, and led to new ways of postcolonial thinking where architecture was seen as tool of power.
The Subaltern Group started in 1980's and spearheaded by Ranajit Guha, Gyan Pandey, Partha Chaterjee, Gayatri Spivak opened a new window to colonial history by proposing that history should be seen from below. They argued that the non-elites (peasants in India) were the agents who had brought radical socio-economic changes in the colonies, and the experiences of these marginalized people opens a new window to national history. Hosagrahar suggests that the works of Subaltern group has influenced Architetcure and Urbanism in two ways: One, by legitimizing the history from margins, and second, by recognizing the power of even non-elites in controlling and shaping the built environment.
She also discusses the commentaries of Henry Louis Gates and Kwame Appaiah's on black culture and African-ness, Hosgargar argues, that brought an awareness of the subjectivities in aesthetic appreciation based on race.
Finally, key works of Homi Bhabha, Arjun Appadurai, and Dipesh Chakrabarty have been instrumental in introducing the hybridity between the east- west, modern- traditional, and have provided complex readings of modernity and globalization. Dipesh. C. in Provincializing Europe (2007) presents an idea of Europe, not as the center of humankind and its scholarship, but as a "mythical site of the original modern."

Postcolonial theory, Hosagrahar writes, "has informed thinking about buildings and urban space as symbolic cultural landscapes that are historically constituted, culturally constructed, political artifacts whose forms are dynamic and meanings constantly negotiated."

The second part traces the historiography of postcolonial architecture and urbanism which contests the european architectural canon as the 'original' history of architecture. As Gwen Wright's book on French Urbanism and Thomas Metcalf's work on Imperial India demonstrate, even seemingly antagonistic projects of architecture in the colony were only built to promote tourism and garner public support (French Algeria), or as a symbolic representation of power that articulated the cultural difference (India). Further, Anthony King's Bungalow and Hosagrahar's work on 19th century Delhi showcase the making of a new 'hybrid culture' that is neither the colonizer's nor from the colony. 

Citing the early works on architectural history which precluded non-western architecture from the canon, she calls for a change in the teaching of history in European and American universities  to include indigenous architecture as a part of the larger canon. 

The third section discusses the creation of national identity through architecture. Hosagrahar identifies three ways in which architecture is used for nation building: One, by rejecting everything that was western and getting inspiration from the traditional-vernacular architecture of the region (Turkey), second, to embrace modernity by having European architects design new capitals (Chandigarh, Dhaka), and third, where changing nationalist agendas results in a diverse range of architecture and hence constructing a diverse national identity. After a brief discussion on who decides what to preserve as cultural identity through architecture, and the effects of globalization on postcolonial thought, the final section presents four elements that are crucial in postcolonial designing in the margins - in-depth knowledge of the site, regional emphasis, being socially responsible and sustainable.

In conclusion, Hosagrahar argues that postcolonial thought has a transformative effect on architecture and urbanism by challenging the paradigms if modernism which are accepted to be universal, second, they urge architectural historians to think of the various alternative narratives to the traditional historical canon of architecture and alert us about the marginalized vernacular histories from the colonies.

The Nation and its Fragments: Colonial and Postcolonial Histories / Partha Chatterjee /1993

Partha Chatterji challenges the euro centric model of nationalism and argues that nationalism in the colony preceded the political claims and stemmed from 19th century projects of cultural differentiation and identity formation.

Chapter 1 "Whose Imagined Communities" objects to Anderson's argument that historical experience of nationalism in Europe and America had supplied the template for nationalism (as a modular form) to the colonized world. The central argument of the book, and the primary objection to Anderson's theory is summarized by his asking if the rest of the world has to choose their imagined communities based on the modular forms created and presented to them by Europe and the Americas, "what do they have left to imagine?". He asks, whether history has decreed the postcolonial world to be perpetual consumers of modernity, and whether even the imaginations of the postcolonial world should remain colonized.  Chatterji breaks from popular nationalist epistemology by arguing that nationalism should not be understood as a political movement. He argues that anti-colonial nationalism has to be thought of as the true beginning of nationalism in the colony. He suggests two domains exist in anti-colonial nationalism -- the material and the spiritual. The material domain was where the west has superiority and the East wanted to imitate it, and the spiritual was the inner cultural identity which was unique to the colony. Since the natives objected to the colonizers interfering and changing this spiritual side as early as 1870's in India, he argues that nationalism was already present then. Here, he suggests that by protecting its inner domain the nation was already being sovereign even as the state was colonized.
He discusses four areas in the spiritual domain that transformed nationalism by inserting it into the public sphere and were constituted by the processes and forms of modern colonial state. Agreeing with Anderson that print-capitalism was the key factor in spread of nationalism, Chatterjee discusses the use of Bengali language by Bengali elites as a tool for asserting the inner domain of nationalism, adapting of Sanskrit plays to popularize a new art form - bengali drama, the creation of new secondary schools where bengali was generalized and normalized the native language, and finally the unique 'modernization' of Indian women where they worked in the public sphere but had to display the sings of national tradition making her different from 'modern western women'.

In arguing that nationalism in India was not based no "derivation" but on"differentiation" he presents examples in chapter 2- 11 to showcase how the nationalist project strived to maintain sovereignty over the inner spiritual realm and keep the colonizers from conquering it. While it was agreed that the West had superiority in the material realm, and East could imitate it, they strived to keep western influences out of the spiritual realm.

Chapter 2 deals with the making of colonial state and the various instances where the colonial"other" was created. Colonial difference -- 'of representing the "other" as inferior and radically different -- was used to justify colonial rule.
Chapter 3 discusses the creation a new sphere in the domain of private -- the new strata  "middle class" -which would both be subordinate to an elite class, and dominate over lower-castes. Chatterjee presents the 'middle-class' as agents of nationalist modernity but carrying unique markers of cultural differences to distinguish them from the West - "The culture of middle-class... is in its overwhelming cultural content, Hindu."
Chapters 4 and 5 traces the nationalist project of writing India's history as a cohesive 'classical' one to imagine/create a central identity and to justify the demands of independence. He writes, nationalist history has a clear agenda and was thought out to have a clear beginning and an end -- begins with the subcontinent's centuries of glorious past and ends with its decline due to the Islamic invasion. He notes the exclusion of several people in this 'classical history' - women, lower-castes, Jains, Buddhists etc.. and questions, if there can ever be one single pre-history of India that could be considered a "national history"?
Chapters 6 and 7 presents the "women's question". Being a central issue in the controversial reformation of mid 19th century, the nationalists sought to rationalize and reform the nature of women in their inner domain without the interference of the colonizers. Evan as the "new woman" differed from 'common' woman with her education and bourgeois virtues, she still carried "signs" of her spiritual domain in her dress, social demeanor, religiosity etc.. thus maintaining a clear distinction from "western modern woman." He argues women themselves wrote against traditional gender biases in their memoirs and family histories even though are rare to be seen in public archives.
Chapter 8 draws from the arguments of Subaltern scholars and focusses on the peasant rebellion and struggles in the mid 19th century, and the role of peasants in the formation of a distinct nationalism through folklore, puzzles, and songs which was markedly different from both Indian bourgeois and western politics. Referring Ranajit Guha's work on peasant insurgency, Chatterjee argues that understanding the reasons how peasants reacted radically in their opposition of the colonial compared to their "educated" compatriots tells an alternative history of India that is fundamental to understand arising consciousness in a colonial state.
Chapter 9 discusses the nature of caste in relation to the identity of lower castes, and the various ways in which caste was challenged in both the private and public realms in the colonial state.
The two final chapters bring back the discussion to the ideas of 'community'. Chapter 10 is a discussion of Capitalism, national planning, and the place of communities in making of a nation. He suggests the changes in capitalism in modern nation-state of India followed the Gramscian passive revolution model where bourgeois hegemony does not get established in the 'classical way.

Comments: Following Chatterjee's argument that there cannot be a single modular form of nationalism, but every colony imagines/creates its own version of nationalism that stems from factors distinct to the region, it is surprising that Chatterjee presents all his examples from Bengal in his discussion of "Indian" nationalism. Can Bengal be a proxy for India? How was the women's question resolved in Chennai? Did northwestern India find a common language amidst all of its different dialects? 

Beyond Postcolonialism: New directions for the history of non-western architecture / Kathleen James Chakraborty/ 2013

Kathleen James Chakraborty's comparative literature study calls attention to new scholarship on non-western modernism. While the first part is a historiographic survey of scholarship on colonial and post colonial architecture from the non-western countries, the second part prescribes what new directions this emerging scholarship can lead into.

She traces the historiography of colonial and postcolonial architecture, beginning with the 1980's books on Indian colonial architecture which worked with the lens of postmodern classicism and the writings of Said, Hobsbawm, and Foucault, to turn of the century "Berkeley School" of non-western studies. She outlines the changing trajectory of postmodern/postcolonial studies as they changed from stylistic study of buildings to the scale of cities and the changing place of buildings in it (influenced by Stuart Hall and Henry Lefebvre). She writes that in 1980's when scholarship on African and Asian colonial architecture first emerged, there was tension in the literature because the relationship of architecture to power had been undeniable shown by Said and Foucault. (Metcalf's 1989 book on IndoSaracenic architecture showed the style as a tool to solidify political power rather than as being respectful of indigenous traditions). In tracing the emergence of scholarship on colonial architecture she identifies the early graduate seminars taught by Renata Holod, Bozdogan, and Anthony King as pioneering which was later bolstered by the emergence of a 'Berkeley School' which was spearheaded by Norma Evenson and Spiro Kostof. At Berkeley, modern non-western architecture occupied center stage as Paul Rabinow and Gwen Wright authored important books on French Urbanism. Supported by its faculty - Nezar Alsayyad, Dell Upton, and Kathleen Chakraborty herself, a string of monographs on 19th-20th century urbanism in non-western world was published by students. The work of those trained at Berkeley, Chakraborty writes, "focussed not on issues of architectural style or its relation to identity but instead on space and the social processes through which it was constituted." She argues that even as the relationship between modernism and social progress is debatable, it is certain that iconic examples of modern architecture has been widely distributed around the world and their study marks the new direction for postmodern studies in architecture.

Four topics that Chakraborty identifies as the most promising in this new direction are 1)the study of  the architecture of empire 2) recognizing the periphery as the place where innovations are occurring 3) analyzing architecture as the locus of cultural memory, and 4) studying the ways in which immigrants are changing the fabric of the western world. The study of architecture in Empire and its colonies is important to understand the question of exporting of modernity, and the questions of who wanted modernity and why. She argues that it also helps in the dissolution of the presumption that all new ideas come from Europe or European architects. Study of migration of both people and ideas is necessary to uncover the ideas and perspectives that have been taken to western countries by European architects working in the 'other world' (Corbusier's inspiration from Mughal palace pavilion and Lois Kahn's philosophy on bricks). Chakraborty suggests that 'memory studies' is one of the most rapidly growing areas of enquiry in humanities. The role of buildings and cities in shaping the ways we understand the past, and how the buildings' own changing role can reflect the changes in the society are key questions.

In concluding James-Chakroborty asks several questions which remain unanswered in the realm of architectural history, and whose answers can change our understanding of cities in colonial and postcolonial times.
"New knowledge about the people who commissioned, designed, constructed, inhabited and viewed colonial and postcolonial buildings has implications for the humanities and the social sciences as a whole, as it overturns preconceptions by no means unique to architectural historians. What does it mean if some of the most potent symbols of modernization created during the twentieth century sunk deeper roots in Calcutta and Cairo than in the suburbs of Chicago and even possibly Copenhagen? Who was the modern movement really for and why? Did it more effectively express the aspirations of working class Europeans for political empowerment or middle class Indians and Egyptians for economic progress? Was it above all the purview of a small cluster of immensely talented designers intensely aware of what each other were doing or is it the property as well of relatively unskilled labor and of housewives? And is it a living tradition, or is it time for it to be consigned to history as the tree of architecture gains a new crown in response to different concerns, such as sustainability."

Disappearing Dichotomies: Firstworld - Thirdworld; Traditional - Modern/ Janet Abu-Lughod/ 1992

This paper permeates the dichotomous boundaries of Firstworld - Thirdworld, Tradition-Modern by delving into the making and meaning of these terms. Abu-Lughod argues that tradition is not a product but a process, and this process is the same in different parts of the world. She calls for a distinction in understanding 'traditional' and something newly created that is yet to be named. 

Abu-Lughod identifies three ways in which the dichotomies of Firstworld - Thirdworld narratives are breaking down in the social and economic spheres: First, with more 'developing' countries being classified as 'developed' (most famously Japan); Second, as the congruence between geographic location and the social formation fades, dichotomous terms like colonizers - colonized, east- west, north- south are rapidly becoming obsolete (Is Australia South and East?); Third, with the changing International Labor laws it is hard to classify a country let alone a region or a continent into one particular group. Lughod argues that these changes in the economic sphere are reflected in the built environment thus problematizing our understanding of what is 'traditional' and 'modern' architecture.

It was proposed in the early 20th century that the processes of urbanization, industrialization, and modernization could be the determining factors to divide the world two distinct groups. But these lines are increasingly getting blurred. New meanings are created for 'traditional' as the third world id adapting the practices of the first world. Traditional rugs made by an African tribe that depicts war tanks and bombs, Bedouin music tapes that bring together traditional Egyptian horse dance music with European pop tunes, and vernacular self-built houses around the world that are built using ubiquitous cement blocks are but a few examples. Abu-Lughod asks two questions to understand the agencies involved in preserving traditions: whose tradition do we preserve, and why are certain traditions favored over others. She contends that the criteria used to determine whose tradition has to be upheld can only be indeterminate because it eventually obtains a political narrative (ex: which layer of history should archeologists blast, and at which layer do they stop). Also, certain traditions or vernacular practices are favored by modern states simply because they can control and impose ways of life that fits with their ideology (ex: traditional Islamic quarters that segregates the sexes)

By calling upon John Turner's concept of 'traditioning' (verb as opposed to a noun) which says that attention has to be paid to the process through which 'tradition' is created and not the product (traditional) itself, Abu-Lughod proposes three identifying criteria to understand 'traditional’. One, in a traditional product there is a link between the maker and consumer, in that somebody unrelated to and with little empathy to the consumer does not produce the product for profit. Two, traditional things have symbolic meaning and emotional content which is shared by both makers and consumers. And three, traditioning is a collective process where houses/objects are collectively built, collectively interpreted and collectively consumed. 

With changing definitions of 'tradition' and the disappearing boundaries between first and third worlds, Abu-Lughod argues that there are commonalities in the ways 'traditioning' happens at both places. She takes examples from both first world (Harlem, NewYork) and third word (Cairo) where there was a need to creatively re-use old buildings that had symbolic and emotional value to the society. Both in Harlem and Cairo, she writes, the solution to renewing historic buildings that were abandoned in the city center was similar. Thus showing the disappearing dichotomies between the worlds.

Tourist Gaze - Theoretical Debate

*Incomplete. For reference only*

Tourist Gaze - John Urry  (Postmodernist perspective on tourism)
The Tourist - Dean MacCannell (modern construct)

Urry uses Foucault's concept of the 'clinical gaze' to present his idea of the tourist gaze. Urry states the tourism involves a particular way of seeing that he terms tourist gaze. “And this gaze [the tourist gaze] is as socially organized and systematized as the gaze of the medic.” 
For Urry tourism is pleasure activity, and everyday activity is work. he creates a binary between the two. 

Against MacCannell’s explanation of tourism as search for authenticity, Urry emphasizes a “difference between one’s normal place of residence/work and the object of the tourist gaze.” He introduces a new kind of tourist -- the post-tourist. The ‘post-tourist’ does not care about authenticity anymore, he/she makes everything extraordinary: “’Post-tourists’ find pleasure in the multiplicity of tourist games. They know that there is no authentic tourist experience, that there are merely a series of games or texts that can be played” 

While Urry proposes that the motivation for tourism lies in the desire to leave the ordinary and find the extraordinary. MacCannell argues in a binary between visible and invisible, within which the tourist desires the invisible: “The second gaze is always aware that something is being concealed from it; that there is something missing from every picture, form every look or glance. This is no less true on tour than it is in everyday life. The second gaze knows that seeing is not believing. Some things will remain hidden from it.”  


 

Architecture, Power, and National Identity/ Lawrence Vale/ 1992

This book, through several case studies, seeks to explore how architecture has been used by national
regimes to express political power, and how the urban built environment has been manipulated to promote a version of identity that would benefit the government in power. Divided in two parts, this book discusses the various agencies influencing the creation of new 'capitals' and the design of new 'capitols'.

Chapter 1 introduces the terms 'capitol' and 'capital', where capital refers to the city housing the government, and capitol refers to the building housing the government. Vale identifies four ways in which buildings 'mean' - denotation (through meanings), exemplification (drama), metaphorically, and through mediated reference. He provides a historic overview of the development and design of modern capitals, and identifies three types of modern capitals:  

a)Evolved capitals  like London, Paris, Vienna, Berlin which have been in continuous use much before becoming the center of power for national administrations. Here, the political capitols are treated as equals with non-government and public institutions.  These capital do not have one single center of architectural focus, but are poly-vocal. At different stages in history, the various ruling regimes have architecturally imprinted the city to signify their power.

b)Evolved capitals 'renewed' like Rome, Moscow, Athens are cities that have been serving as capitals for several centuries, and whose architecture and urban fabric has been renewed time and again to suit the changing needs of subsequent regimes. As power changed from royal families to papal state, from imperialism to democracy, and to socialist and communist regimes, the city's architecture was continually redefined by adding capitols, memorials, and congregational  spaces which helped in spatially and physically anchoring their political ideologies.

c) Designed Capitals are cities that have been clearly designated as a capital. They are either carried forward from a colonial past (Delhi) or designed afresh to suit the image of a newly formed nation-state (Brasilia).

Chapter 2 discusses the role of capital city and capitol buildings in construction of national identity. While the first chapter introduced the terminology and gave a historical overview of the evolution of capital cities, the second chapter focusses specifically on 'postcolonial capitals' and their importance in nation building. For this Vale begins by surveying the academic landscape of 'nations' and 'nationalism'. Quoting postmodern scholars like Gellner, Hobsbawm, and Anderson, Vale suggests Nationalism to be a modern invention. National identity, he says, was born out of a necessity to have a shared cultural, linguistic lineage among the residents of a newly independent nations who found it easier to identify themselves by who they are not, rather than who they are. Vale proposes that even as capitals and capitols are supposed to be representative of a national distinctness, they often represent the culture and power of only the dominant group within a plural society. This group usually is the ruling political power, and becomes especially problematic if the central division of the nation-state is on religious lines. Then, national identity proposed through capitol buildings can be thought of as 'constructed identity'. He identifies three types of identity projected through the construction of capitol complexes:
a) Subnational identity: In postcolonial nations construction of new capitals becomes a mere demonstration of power and a search for legitimacy by a new regime in power. Ex:Brasilia
b) Personal identity: The personality and influences of the designer or the political sponsor overshadows the showcasing of national identity, especially when a non-native architect is imported to design the new capital Ex:Chandigarh
c) Supranational identity: When architecture (often ostentatious) is used by a self-interested political bureaucracy to symbolize the modern aspirations of a new country and its emerging economic development. 

Chapter 3 discusses four capitals which were designed for union, imperialism, and independence. Vale describes them to be representative of early forms of nationalism. While DC was one of the first capitals to be designed by a union, the colonial capitals were European inspired to served the interests of an overseas empire. 

1. Washington DC was the first postcolonial modern capital. Vale traces the history of DC as one of early capitals designed based on French gardens and town plans and Italian renaissance design by Pierre Charles L'Enfant to today's touristy DC which is a 20th century product. He notes the role of the Capitol building as a symbol of unity from its standing as a locus of power.
2. Canberra: In Australian capital Canberra there were debates over an appropriate symbol for democracy, and the relevance of a master plan that spoke an aristocratic and imperial language.
3. New Delhi: Designed as an Imperial capital, the master plan of New Delhi was the physical manifestation of race, rank, and socioeconomic status prevalent in the Indian society. The colonized and the colonizers had distinctly demarcated spaces in the capital.
4. Ankara: Unlike Imperial Delhi which had a history that pre-dated arrival of British, Ankara was chosen over Constantinople (Istanbul) which had a history of over 1500 years. It was symbolically moving away from European ties of Constantinople and centuries of Ottoman rule to a new Turkish republic. 

Chapter 4 provides an in-depth analysis of two post-war 'modern' capitals - Chandigarh and Brasilia where architecture and urbanism was used to symbolize modernism and national identity of new nations.
1. Chandigarh: Vale is largely sympathetic towards Corbusier and admires his efforts on designing a modern Indian capital which is also evocative of India. He marks the architectural convergence of Corbusier's ideas with that of Lutyens, and notes that by detaching Capitol complex from the city Corbusier represented the supremacy of the executive.
2. Brasilia: The capital was moved inland to the geographic center from the port city of Rio De Janeiro to symbolically claim the newly acquired vast expanse of land. Even as the masterplan of the new capital was said to be influenced by the cross of the catholic church, scholars like Holston argue that this was only done to hide the more radical aspects of the city's design. Unlike in Chandigarh where class segregation was consciously pursued in residential design, Brasilia aimed to break the divide by building all residential units alike. But it only ignited riots amongst the residents. The central capitol complex was not designed by bureaucrats, Vale writes, but for them. 

Chapter 5 discusses three capitals (Islamabad, Abuja, Dodoma) that were designed after 1960's and were significantly influenced by the masterplan of Chandigarh and Brasilia. Here, the ideas of the prior capitals were reconsidered and improved upon. Post-war capitals have not only imported western architecture but also western democratic ideologies. 

Chapters 6 to 9 discusses four capitals built after 1980's : Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka, Kuwait, Bangladesh. Vale brings out the strengths and failures of each of the capitols, and ends every discussion on a hopeful note that the building that is currently unsuited for the people may in future shed its negative connotations and become naturalized in its setting.  

1. The architecture of Papua New Guinea's (PNG) capitol complex was said to be inspired from various aspects of traditional village life of the region. The architecture was drawn from vernacular roof forms, the aesthetics came from ritual objects, and urban form was taken from village men's houses etc. But in all this the political struggle was embedded. The vernacular structure was found only in some parts of the region, which had been traditionally seen as the dominating class, and hence the architecture of capitol complex was accused of favoring one set of people over others. The ritual objects and art pieces were taken out of context and presented as secular indigenous objects which was seen as disrespectful. Vale argues at PNG both subnational and supranational identity were being constructed by the collaboration and cross-pollination of various groups' identities.  

2. Sri Lankan island parliament designed by native architect Geoffery Bawa differs from the previous case studies by embracing indigenous architectural traditions and a  multitude of references from different ethnicities. But being in a country that is plagued by ethnic conflicts and civil war it came to be seen as representative of the unchallenged Sinhalese power on the Island. 

3. Kuwait's National Assembly complex was designed by John Utzon and was inspired by local Arab tents in the the marshlands, but the symbolism was lost in abstraction.

4. Dhaka's National Assembly building designed by Lois Kahn appears to be the most severe failure of all the capitols studies in the book. Being influenced much more by the architect's ideologies than the government's the building appears to a  army stronghold rather than a house of democracy. Kahn's over utilization of the elements of Mosque provoked strong reactions from the 11 million Hindus in the region. 

Chapter 10 brings together all of the case studies where Vale offers a prescriptive conclusion for designing capitals and capitols. He presents three ways to approach the design of a  capitol complex that would symbolize both national identity and the power. a) he argues that capitol complexes should move beyond politics where the designer should consciously steer away from the political intentions of its sponsor. b)Vale questions if it would be possible for one building to be a microcosm of an entire society, and if so who should be the judge of its accuracy. He offers that since it is impossible to have a microcosm the symbolism of the national building is significant and hence must be carefully designed. c) Vale argues that since Capitol complexes end up being instruments of political power, and they cannot be representative of an entire society, the buildings should be designed to reflect an idealized form of governance and intergroup relations in the country. Here again he wonders who would have the power to decide what an ideal representation should be.
Vale concludes his prescription of a 'good capitol' with the thought that even as Capitol complexes have not been ideal buildings and have favored one group, regime, political institution, or even a designer over the interests of the common public, they showcase the the hierarchy of power structure in the country. He writes, "Regimes build capitol complexes chiefly to serve personal, subnational, and supranational interests rather than to advance national identity; designers cannot mold political

change; and governments still find it necessary to demonstrate their power through aesthetic exaggeration." 

Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism/ Benedict Anderson/ 1983

Imagined Community: Imagined political unity, imagined as inherently limited and sovereign. 

Imagined - citizens don't see each other

Limited - bounded by borders, even if they are elastic

Sovereign - the nations have administrative/political power 

Community- horizontal comradeship

Emergence of Nationalism:

1. Decline of coherent religious communities

2. Decline of dynasties

3. Emergence of empty homogenous time.

Print Capitalism: unified fields of exchange and communication.

Creole Pilgrimage and Print:

First nations were nationalism emerged were not in Europe but in Latin America. Spaniards traversed their territory on secular pilgrimages, and met other spaniards from their territory. These introduced a national consciousness that was further bolstered by newspaper (print media) that carried information about ships, commodity prices etc. 

Old languages-New Models: European Nationalism 1820-1920

Print capitalism - vernacular lexicographers made dictionaries, translations etc in vernacular languages. Scholars were producers in this print-capitalism market and the growing bourgeois its receivers. Europe was filled with vernacular imagined communities. This form of nationalism, was made modular (blueprints) by Europe, and transported to colonies around the world. 

Official Nationalism:

While Latin America was the model for European nationalism, Europe packaged and transported this “official nationalism” to colonies in 19th century. Anderson calls this “top-down-nationalism’ were countries with dynastic realms were also forced to adopt national symbols and foster nationalism. 

Census, Map, Museum

Census: Everybody is identified with a number. Everybody has one place. Nation is naturalized, since nationality becomes a necessity, like gender. 

Map: creation of map helped imagine the nation as limited. There are bounded nations, next to which other nations lie. 

Museum: construction of a linear history. Shared heritage.