1st Edition

Neocolonialism and Built Heritage Echoes of Empire in Africa, Asia, and Europe

Edited By Daniel E. Coslett Copyright 2020
    292 Pages 97 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    292 Pages 97 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    Architectural relics of nineteenth and twentieth-century colonialism dot cityscapes throughout our globalizing world, just as built traces of colonialism remain embedded within the urban fabric of many European capitals.

    Neocolonialism and Built Heritage addresses the sustained presence and influence of historic built environments and processes inherited from colonialism within the contemporary lives of cities in Africa, Asia, and Europe. Novel in their focused consideration of ways in which these built environments reinforce neocolonialist connections among former colonies and colonizers, states and international organizations, the volume’s case studies engage highly relevant issues such as historic preservation, heritage management, tourism, toponymy, and cultural imperialism.

    Interrogating the life of the past in the present, authors thus challenge readers to consider the roles played by a diversity of historic built environments in the ongoing asymmetrical balance of power and unequal distribution capital around the globe. They present buildings’ maintenance, management, reuse, and (re)interpretation, and in so doing they raise important questions, the ramifications of which transcend the specifics of the individual sites and architectural histories they present.

    Introduction  1. The Production and Use of Neocolonialist Sites of Memory Daniel E. Coslett  PART I: Colonial Spaces in Postcolonial Metropoles  2. Old Colonial Sites and New Uses in Contemporary Paris Robert Aldrich  3. The Axum Obelisk: Shifting Concepts of Colonialism and Empire in Fascist and 21st-Century Rome Flavia Marcello and Aidan Carter  4. Postcolonial Berlin: Reckoning with Traces of German Colonialism Valentina Rozas-Krause  PART II: Between Postcolonial Metropoles and Postcolonies  5. Erasing the Ketchaoua Mosque: Catholicism, Assimilation, and Civic Identity in France and Algeria Ralph Ghoche  6. All Empire is a Stage: Italian Colonial Exhibitions in Continuum Stephanie Malia Hom  7. The Legacy of Colonial Architecture in South Korea: The Government-General Building of Chosŏn Revisited Suzie Kim  PART III: Inherited Colonial-era Spaces in Contemporary Postcolonies  8. Spatial Governmentality and Everyday Hospital Life in Colonial and Postcolonial DR Congo Simon De Nys-Ketels, Johan Lagae, Kristien Geenen, Luce Beeckmans, and Trésor Lumfuankenda Bungiena  9. Colonial Mimicry and Nationalist Memory in the Postcolonial Prisons of India Mira Rai Waits  PART IV: Globalization and Heritage in Contemporary Postcolonies  10. Heritage, Tourism, and the Challenges of Postcolonial Globalization at Tunis’ Bardo Museum Daniel E. Coslett  11. The Riad’s Resurgence: Questioning the Historical Legacy and Neocolonial Currency of the Moroccan Courtyard House Nancy Demerdash-Fatemi  12. Cultivating (Post)colonialism: Architecture, Landscape, and the Politics of the Taiwan Sugar Corporation Justin Kollar  EPILOGUE  13. Working Through the Neocolonialist Habit Vikramāditya Prakāsh  Index

    Biography

    Daniel E. Coslett earned a Ph.D. in the history and theory of built environments from the University of Washington’s College of Built Environments, as well as an M.A. in the subject from Cornell University. His research addresses colonial and postcolonial North Africa, focusing on intersections of architectural design, urban planning, archaeology, and historic preservation, as well as heritage management and tourism development. At Western Washington University and the University of Washington he teaches subjects including historic preservation, architectural analysis, as well as modern and colonial architectural history. He is also an assistant editor at the International Journal of Islamic Architecture.