Contact and Exchange: Modern and Contemporary Architecture and Design in South Asia

HAA 78 Subject & Catalog Number

Description

This course will study buildings, objects, sites, and themes pertinent to architecture and design in South Asia from the eighteenth century to the present. Our examples will address topics including port cities and their architecture; building typologies such as bungalows, urban and suburban apartments, and village dwellings; silverware and textile objects; new cities and their infrastructure; and colonial and postcolonial institutions of architectural and design training. We will prioritize a cross-cultural history of contact, interactions, and exchanges that informed a significant portion of the visual and material culture of the Indian subcontinent, and consider the incidence of comparable typologies and objects in other parts of the world. Section meetings will allow students to build on key issues and questions that emerge from the readings and lectures, and learn the skills of looking, reading, analyzing, critical thinking, and writing that are crucial within the humanities more broadly.