Chapter Two
“The very cultural heritage that gives…peoples their identity, now far more than in the past, is under real
or potential assault from those who would gather it up, strip away its honoured meanings, convert it to a
product, and sell it. Each time that happens the cultural heritage itself dies a little, and with it its people.”
Thomas Greaves, “Tribal Rights,” in Stephen B. Brush and Doreen Stabinsky, (eds.) Valuing Local Knowledge: Indigenous People and
Intellectual Property Rights, Washington D.C.: Island Press, 1996, p. 25
Architecture and National Identity
Locating the Notion of Identity
2.0 PREVIEW
The complexity and ambiguity of the term “identity” can be clarified through the question:
“what is one’s/your/my/our/its/their identity? What follows as the answers are burdened
adjectives, such as Christian, Muslim, rich, Kenyan, male, urban, global, rural, and many
others. Sometimes even more opaque adjectives like traditional, folk, contemporary,
progressive, orthodox, classical etc summarize the answer. The ‘problems with these
adjectives are that they themselves are summations for a complex cultural subjectivity,
which might have several layers of contradicting description’. 1 Also some of these adjectives
are loaded with stereotypical ideas. The rendering of the particular description depends
upon the intentions of the describer. Hence the adjective itself does not have a clear
definition. The problem of deciphering identity becomes more acute when more than one
such adjective is used to describe identity.
2.1 Theoretical Clarifications on the Question of Identity
I will consider two theories that attempt to clarify this question of identity, the first taking it as
an ‘Imagined Concept’ and the other one as an ‘Evolving Process’.
2.1.1 Identity as an ‘Imagined Concept’
Benedict Anderson suggests: “Communities are to be distinguished, not by their falsity or
genuineness, but by the style in which they are imagined”. The imagination of identity
becomes the backbone for the making of the community itself2.
2.1.2 Identity being an ‘Evolving Process’
Contrary to Anderson, Hall presents identity as an evolving process rather than a fixed entity.
He suggests: “Perhaps instead of thinking of identity as an already accomplished fact, which
1 Rahul Mehrotra, www.architecture−identity.de
2 Anderson, B. (1985): Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. Verso, London
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the new cultural practices then represent, we should think, instead, of identity as a
“production” which is never complete, always in process, and always constituted within, not
outside, representation”.3
Thus, it is evident that identities are not static or predefined but “infinitely malleable”
4
Echoing this notion and enlarging it further is Appudarai’s5 thesis of the ‘production of
locality’:
“I want to unsettle the idea of the local as somehow given, and draw attention to the
fact that any form of local social life requires agency, purpose, vision, design. The
local is as much a process and a project as anything else”.
The above theoretical articulations allow us to relocate the notion of identity beyond the
discourses of ‘symbol’ and the ‘local’ into a larger cultural space.
2.2.0 ESTABLISHING THE IDEA OF IDENTITY
The comments by Sundaram Tagore on India’s post independence scenario also apply to
majority of developing countries. He asserts that “Although modernity claims to decry chaos,
its determination to oppose tradition breeds confusion” (Tagore, 1997), a phenomenon that
continuously resurfaces in the coming decades and plays itself out in far more potent
manifestations as the nation evolved. Hence, in such a society and unlike in the west, the
modern movement in both Art and Architecture in this countries did not develop gradually
but resulted from a complete overthrowing of the traditional artistic system and adopting
modern vocabulary as a Stylistic development often mistaken for asserting a Modern
Identity.
3 Hall, S. (1998): Cultural Identity and Diaspora In: Rutherford, J. (ed.) Identity. Community, Culture, Difference. Lawrence & Wishart, London
4 Woodward, K. (1997): Concepts of Identity and Difference. In: Woodward, Kathryn (ed.) Identity and Difference. Sage Publications, London
5 Appadurai, A. (1996): Modernity at Large: Cultural Dimensions of Globalization. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis
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2.2.1 The Idea of Cultural Landscape
In his paper, Mehrotra appropriately notes that when dealing with the issue of identity,
“Urban professionals” act only as part of a much broader cultural space, which is governed
by “deeper systems of power, economics and signification”6. And in such larger and deeper
systems, architecture and architects remain too feeble to create or manipulate identity. To
construct an understanding of identity, perhaps there is a need to broaden the perspective
from looking at architects and architectural form to a larger cultural landscape7.
Buildings have been put up, as symbols of modernity but reading of the larger landscape
however would lead to the construction of a completely different scenario. Thus through this
reading, the landscape is not modern as the building centric view seems to suggest, rather it
is unequally modern!
In the assertion of identity, architecture seldom is able to represent a geographic region, but
rather more accurately represents a cultural community, which might get identified due to a
sharing of common social, political or economical backgrounds.
2.2.2 Contemporary Landscape: Consumptive and Competitive Urbanism
The most striking change in the recent landscape is the emergence of new types of builtforms for working, living, shopping, education and leisure that indicate a definite change in
the behavioural patterns of the people inhabiting them. The development of these new
types seems to have been influenced by the change in the economy.
6 Borden, I., Rendell, J. Kerr, J. and Pivaro, A. (2002): Things, Flow Filters, Tactics. In Borden, I., Rendell, J. Kerr, J. and Pivaro, A. (eds.) The Unknown City: Contesting
Architecture and Social Space, MIT Press, London
7 Rahul Mehrotra, www.architecture−identity.de
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It is easy to find old industrial warehouses being converted into discotheques and art
galleries, while small apartments are transforming into office and industrial spaces. The new
middle class has to be distinguished from the earlier middle class specifically in its affording,
demanding and spending capacity.
2.3 ARCHITECTURE AND SOCIETY -THE MAJOR LINKAGES
The following are the major multiple facets that makes up the contemporary society;
Social, political, economical, cultural, political, institutional, religious and other dimensions
All the facets interact in a set of visible and invisible transactions and networks between the
multitudes of human beings that live in today cities and the rural areas. It is largely this set of
interactions and transaction that constitute the dynamic living reality of the contemporary
city, where most growth is occurring and where most architectural practise takes place.
Yet the physical environment is just but one dimension that has to interact with and reflect
that dynamic, organic reality.
Architecture then is the means that the members of the society employ to express that
society in the physical world, it is a mirror of the less physical, be it the ideological aspects
that define the society’s objectives, reality today, as well as its linkages backwards and
forwards to its cultural heritage and its future aspirations.
2.3.1 The Role of the intellectuals to the State and the Elites
Frank Lloyd Wright said that the architecture of a society is far more dominated by the
prevailing taste of its ruling commercial elite than by all the artistic theories of its architects
and art historians.
‘The failure of modern architecture in recent years is only partly the fault of the architects.
The main burden of blame for inhumane architecture must rest upon clients who have failed
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to educate themselves for the great responsibilities they undertake’8. All involved in creating
a building deserve recognition – collective and responsibilities.
The taste of the governing elite is likely to dominate the pattern of buildings that give an area
its identifiable character and that serve as landmarks and examples of what the state’s
dominant elite promotes.
One of the great problems is that the most of our ruling elites of the societies have gone
through a process of ‘disassociation’ from the cultural roots. This has led to dichotomisation of
cultural perception, where ‘historical heritage’ – cultural, religious, spiritual, is identified with
the past, backwardness and poverty, while the image of the progress in future is borrowed
from the west. This present a challenge to the designers, sociologists and the philosophers
who have to articulate a vision for the future.
2.4 CONCLUSIONS
Architecture has a function as a reflection of society on its role in defining an image of
progress and its relationship to changing cultural identity.
2.4.1 Architecture and the ‘Image of Progress’
Unless and until architects and intellectuals generally succeed in providing the ruling elites of
the societies with an alternative image of progress they will continue to pay lip service to the
need for cultural authenticity while their actions will speak more loudly than their words as
they hurry to adopt the most superficial aspects of western culture.
While architects need for mastering of their expressive language is all-important, there is also
an urgent need of collective ingenuity with the other profession that comes on the way to
the actualisation of identity.
8 Bruce Allsopp, ‘Educating the Client’ in Byron Mikellides, ed., Architecture for the People, NY Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1980 p.43
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2.4.2 Architecture and the Changing Cultural Identity
The society need a more articulated and sensitive response that is more respectful of cultural
continuity, a more responsive to climatic and site requirements.
Unless the architects can successfully convince the elites of their societies to replace their
imported ‘image of progress’ with a more coherent and effective one, there is going to be
little chance to reverse that widespread degradation of the urbanistic character and
architectural expression.
The physical expression identified with the elites should be changed. This will indeed change
the perception of large segments of society as to what in desirable as an expression of
modernity and social status.
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