[Reader-list] First Posting - Cultures of Migration and Politics of Documentation

[kaiwan mehta]

Hi
This is my first posting …

The paper is titled
Reading Histories: Migration and Culture
Politics of Mapping and Representation: Urban Communities

Architecture is a matrix of cultural codes and also a site for
anthropology. One has to understand architecture as a potential
archive not in terms of the physical building but the life that
unfolds within it, the craft and decoration that mask it, the material
and technology that draw skill and references to construct it.
Architecture has to be read as a novel, where facts are mingled with
poetic imagination, and this imagination is our great archive to be
unearthed. Architecture essentially deals with human societies, their
memories and aspirations.

The paper tries to understand;
1.      Cultures of migration responsible for the urban culture Bombay has
2.      Reconstructing this urban culture (its history) by simultaneously
reading architecture and other forms of cultural representation like
theatre, literature.
This in the process hints at urban culture being a composition of
neighborhoods/localities, also related to cultures of
migration………………generating a peculiar cultural and political urban
culture.

Communities, essentially housing communities are defined on various
cultural frameworks that range from migration patterns, employment
status, community structures, etc. Very often they create cultural
zones, which are not generated through historical or social sequences,
but are enforced to create preferred cultures. How does one understand
the living space and community space within these living complexes?
This is the essential social space that defines the way individuals
imagine themselves vis-à-vis family, society and nation. These are the
primary generators of notions that define society and space.

How does one holistically document these housing communities? What is
a process for a holistic mapping? Architects' classical tools of the
plan and map have limitations. There is a need to create a mode of
representation that documents the living space and the relationships
that it accommodates, the community and the politics that it
generates, the form and the memories and aspirations it provokes. In
this context how does one deal with mapping, documentation and
archiving in this context.

This will be viewed in light of the fact that documentation and
archiving are emerging strongly as a form of architectural practice
and urban studies. These mappings result in generating urban histories
and also define policy and planning.

I believe that every architect played a role in society and was also
crucial to its culture; s/he was not just an aesthetician or a
professional service labour. He was the generator of ideas and spaces,
where humans lived and worked, where society enacted its drama of
culture and politics, religion and mythology.

The inner city of Bombay, the earlier 'native town', is the area of my
research interest. It has been a prime site for culture, religion and
politics. Its history ranged from migration patterns to nationalism
and riots.

--
Kaiwan Mehta
Architect and Urban Reseracher

11/4, Kassinath Bldg. No. 2, Kassinath St., Tardeo, Mumbai 400034
022-2-494 3259 / 91-98205 56436


-- 
Kaiwan Mehta
Architect and Urban Reseracher

11/4, Kassinath Bldg. No. 2, Kassinath St., Tardeo, Mumbai 400034
022-2-494 3259 / 91-98205 56436