Postcolonial Architecture

This seminar investigates the notion of a postcolonial architecture and the controversial use of the term ‘post’ in the late 20th and early 21st century. It traces the colonial present in current architectural practices and speculates on the possibility in the contemporary world of another kind of architecture. If one of the more spectacular events or series of events in the 20th century was the dismantling of empires, then one of its less-remarked developments has been the continuing presence of colonial practices and architecture’s possible complicity in this. The seminar looks at the implication of colonialism as a cultural, representational as well as political and military practice, and its negotiation, dismantling or shoring up by architectural discourse and practices.

Course Instructor: Sherry McKay