HAA 187K - Architecture, Urbanism, and Design in a Global South Asia: 18th Century to the Present

Vishal Khandelwal

This seminar explores architecture, urbanism, and design in colonial and postcolonial South Asia through the region’s interactions and exchanges with other parts of the world. Extending from early European presence in the subcontinent to the formalization of the British empire and its subsequent end that eventually led to the formation of current-day South Asian nation-states, the seminar analyzes urban, rural, and architectural spaces including the bungalow, the single-family apartment, and the village dwelling alongside other buildings and environments of residence, education, governance, and entertainment. Topics include: indigenous and foreign building technologies; the aesthetic and intellectual contexts of architectural representations; Gandhian ideals and their architectural expression; architecture, urbanism, and colonial and postcolonial identity; and architecture and the archive. The seminar emphasizes multiple artistic and architectural media employed within diverse approaches to writing architectural and urban histories of the region. And with a keen eye informed by recent methodologies in global art and architectural history, it encourages the questioning of a global approach towards refining the same for students’ research and learning interests. Open to graduate and advanced undergraduate students.