Modernity and Post-Colonial India

Paper Summary:

This paper looks at modernity and how architectural modernism captures the economic, cultural and political phenomena re-making India in the twenty-first century. The paper focuses on the architectural work of Joseph Allen Stein and discusses how his work encapsulates the new virility and promise of post-colonial India as it unshackled itself from generations of British rule after the end of World War II. The paper suggests that the key to India can be seen in the monuments it builds to itself.

From the Paper:

"At the same time, modernist architecture survives as a political statement insofar as it also masks infelicities that Indians may not want outsiders to see. For example, the city of Bombay is a modern city organized like few others - but that modern image of looming skyscrapers and cleverly-conceived infrastructure merely papers over elements of nativism and communalism that threaten Bombay's gleaming international image (Prakash, 2006). Therefore, just as modern-day India uses impressive modernist structures to announce its arrival on the world stage, it also uses those same structures and architectural embellishments to hide from view darker national traditions and vestiges of its past it wishes to remain unseen."

Sample of Sources Used:

• "Celebrating Chandigarh" 1999, Architectural Review, vol. 205, no.1224, p.11.
• Craven, Jackie (2006), What is Modernism? The New York Times Company, viewed 5 November, 2006, <http://architecture.about.com//library/blgloss-modernism.htm>
• Kalia, Ravi 2006, "Modernism, modernization and post-colonial India: A reflective essay", Planning Perspectives, vol.21, no.2, pp.133-156.
• Larson, Soren 1999, "World's tallest tower, Sikh Center among India's newest ambitions", Architectural Record, vol.188, no.1, p.48.
• Modern Architecture (2006), Farlex Inc., viewed 6 November, 2006, <http://columbia.thefreedictionary.com/Modernist+architecture>

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