Theses defended
Diu, a Social Architectural and Urban History
June 19, 2017
Heritages of Portuguese Influence
Paulo Varela Gomes
e
Rahul Mehrotra
What is the colonial city in India like? What is Diu, in European spatial colonial culture in general, and in Portuguese spatial colonial culture in particular? How has the apparatus of urban space, architectural form, and representation worked in ways unseen by its contingent actors, and how has this apparatus biased Diu and the Portuguese colonial empire?
The dissertation is an original contribution that opens a global episteme and explores the process of knowledge production, the construction of identity and the creation of political meaning in and about the European colonial city in South Asia by reconnoitring the conditions of colonialism that produced in Diu the Portuguese colonial city as a modern 'artefact.'
The question of 'identity' resides at the core of the study, understood as description, narration, as well as representation of the European colonial city in India, weaving together history and theory of architecture and urbanism and history of thought and culture, in what seeks to be a contribution to the study of imperialism, colonialism, modernity and of the Portuguese and/or catholic colonial city in India.
The chapters highlight the complex relationship between the Portuguese sovereignty and statecraft and its colonial project in Diu, and re-examine spatial culture and social practice in the city from the early sixteenth (1514) until the mid-twentieth century (1961), through the lens of history and theory architecture and urbanism. Overall, the dissertation describes a scenario of a continuing layered sovereignty throughout this period in an imperial and continental 'border' place, in which transnational connections informed the apparatus of architectural and urban form, space, and representation in ways that were underway, from the vantage-point of an urban polity that was never entirely colonized. Taking as the object of analysis, the architecture and the overall colonial city, but extending this to the reading of related public and domestic spaces, the dissertation demonstrates the complex nature of overlap between spatial and functional categories in the colonial context.
We argue that there never was a place like Diu in the history of the European colonial presence in India, in the history of European colonial identity in India, and foremost, in the history of the European colonial city in India.
There, the (cultural) concepts of 'ambivalence' and 'hybridity' were made pioneers and shapers of architectural and urban identity of the European empires in the East, in contrast to the standard position resulting from the merging of cultures. Diu is an entire repository of a global history of colonial material culture in India. As outcomes of the concepts, were built in Diu the 'touchstones' of Portuguese colonial architecture in the East, instances of European Renaissance military architecture, and of European catholic architecture.
The vantage point that we have sought to bring to light, renders apparent some of the multiple faces of the study of the city in the colonial world. Firstly, questioned the historicization of a historiographical axiom completely accepted, assumed, reproduced and unquestioned by the historiography that, directly or indirectly did (and does) the study of the colonial cities, and finally, acted as point of departure in a disjuncture (i.e. paradigm shift from one episteme to another) of the study of the European colonial city in India, that takes urban history and urban theory seriously beyond 'the West.' It shows that architectural and urban conceptions clearly became increasingly deterministic and normative, and also how, in practice, these ideas continued to be tempered by forces that resisted homogeneity and singular authoritarian encoding of space. To this end, we try to challenge core assumptions which have framed architectural and urban history of colonial spatial cultures for decades and contribute to broader theoretical agendas which highlight how making sense of urban life does not have to depend on the 'Western' academy. We respond to interdisciplinary concerns over the global disparities of knowledge and recognition of the need to appreciate the exceptionality of Diu in the context of the European colonial city in India.
In this way and within this frame, arises a dissertation where time is discussed with the necessary rhythm to the reading of the transformation on a place until the conformation of a colonial spatial identity. Diu anticipated (but did not help to predict) by almost two centuries, that the European colonial spatial cultures in India were far more complex than the mere transfer of an 'European city' and the simple binary frameworks centred on categories (black-town/white-town, European/native, religious/secular, colonizer/colonized, dominant/dependant, traditional/modern). The dissertation shows that social and spatial divisions in Diu were not nearly so clear cut as previous studies have postulated. Instead, there were charged interconnections between spaces, the 'Portuguese' and the 'Gujarati' where effectively the Portuguese and/or Catholic city in India establishes a relation with the circumstances of time until the end of the Portuguese empire in India: the colonial city.
Keywords: Diu; India; Portugal; Architecture; City; Colonial; Empire
Public Defence date
Doctoral Programme
Supervision
Abstract
The dissertation is an original contribution that opens a global episteme and explores the process of knowledge production, the construction of identity and the creation of political meaning in and about the European colonial city in South Asia by reconnoitring the conditions of colonialism that produced in Diu the Portuguese colonial city as a modern 'artefact.'
The question of 'identity' resides at the core of the study, understood as description, narration, as well as representation of the European colonial city in India, weaving together history and theory of architecture and urbanism and history of thought and culture, in what seeks to be a contribution to the study of imperialism, colonialism, modernity and of the Portuguese and/or catholic colonial city in India.
The chapters highlight the complex relationship between the Portuguese sovereignty and statecraft and its colonial project in Diu, and re-examine spatial culture and social practice in the city from the early sixteenth (1514) until the mid-twentieth century (1961), through the lens of history and theory architecture and urbanism. Overall, the dissertation describes a scenario of a continuing layered sovereignty throughout this period in an imperial and continental 'border' place, in which transnational connections informed the apparatus of architectural and urban form, space, and representation in ways that were underway, from the vantage-point of an urban polity that was never entirely colonized. Taking as the object of analysis, the architecture and the overall colonial city, but extending this to the reading of related public and domestic spaces, the dissertation demonstrates the complex nature of overlap between spatial and functional categories in the colonial context.
We argue that there never was a place like Diu in the history of the European colonial presence in India, in the history of European colonial identity in India, and foremost, in the history of the European colonial city in India.
There, the (cultural) concepts of 'ambivalence' and 'hybridity' were made pioneers and shapers of architectural and urban identity of the European empires in the East, in contrast to the standard position resulting from the merging of cultures. Diu is an entire repository of a global history of colonial material culture in India. As outcomes of the concepts, were built in Diu the 'touchstones' of Portuguese colonial architecture in the East, instances of European Renaissance military architecture, and of European catholic architecture.
The vantage point that we have sought to bring to light, renders apparent some of the multiple faces of the study of the city in the colonial world. Firstly, questioned the historicization of a historiographical axiom completely accepted, assumed, reproduced and unquestioned by the historiography that, directly or indirectly did (and does) the study of the colonial cities, and finally, acted as point of departure in a disjuncture (i.e. paradigm shift from one episteme to another) of the study of the European colonial city in India, that takes urban history and urban theory seriously beyond 'the West.' It shows that architectural and urban conceptions clearly became increasingly deterministic and normative, and also how, in practice, these ideas continued to be tempered by forces that resisted homogeneity and singular authoritarian encoding of space. To this end, we try to challenge core assumptions which have framed architectural and urban history of colonial spatial cultures for decades and contribute to broader theoretical agendas which highlight how making sense of urban life does not have to depend on the 'Western' academy. We respond to interdisciplinary concerns over the global disparities of knowledge and recognition of the need to appreciate the exceptionality of Diu in the context of the European colonial city in India.
In this way and within this frame, arises a dissertation where time is discussed with the necessary rhythm to the reading of the transformation on a place until the conformation of a colonial spatial identity. Diu anticipated (but did not help to predict) by almost two centuries, that the European colonial spatial cultures in India were far more complex than the mere transfer of an 'European city' and the simple binary frameworks centred on categories (black-town/white-town, European/native, religious/secular, colonizer/colonized, dominant/dependant, traditional/modern). The dissertation shows that social and spatial divisions in Diu were not nearly so clear cut as previous studies have postulated. Instead, there were charged interconnections between spaces, the 'Portuguese' and the 'Gujarati' where effectively the Portuguese and/or Catholic city in India establishes a relation with the circumstances of time until the end of the Portuguese empire in India: the colonial city.
Keywords: Diu; India; Portugal; Architecture; City; Colonial; Empire