HISTORICISM IN ARCHITECTURAL EDUCATION IN BANGLADESH
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53808/KUS.2017.14.1and2.1634-EKeywords:
Historicism, contextuality, positionality, architecture, curriculumAbstract
Even in today’s postcolonial conditions, architectural education in Bangladesh remains profoundly influenced by the western pedagogic framework introduced originally by Texas A&M University in 1961. Especially the history part of the undergraduate architectural curricula suffers heavily from a lack of contextual orientation as western scholarship heavily dominate the classroom lectures. It is against this backdrop; this paper aims to investigate the problems underlying the history/heritage (theory) stream of courses from the architectural curricula in Bangladesh. In order to comprehend the problems, the concept of historicism has been used, which provides a framework to assess historicism in terms of contextuality, continuity and positionality. Using this framework, a review of history/ heritage courses of 12 architectural schools in Bangladesh has been conducted. It is found that modern western scholarly contents for history education are often inadequate for students’ understanding of their own context (both past and present). It is also argued that there is a lack of continuity due to the segmentation of historical architectural evidences in geographic and temporal terms. Additionally, the uncritical delivery of scholarly materials in the history classroom is further exacerbated by the overwhelming occurrence of western authors’ narratives on architectural events, theories or examples on, about or being in the nations of the west. Four propositions, including the need for being critical to the contents and processes of the western scholarship, and the need for incorporation of more locally produced reference materials (published by local authors) alongside the western ones have been put up.
Downloads
References
Ahmed A. S. M., & Naqi, A. (2006). State of Architectural Education in Bangladesh, Roundtable discussion on The Education of Architecture in Bangladesh (pp. 1-5). Institutes of Architects Bangladesh (IAB).
Altbach, P. C. (1989). Twisted roots: The Western impact on Asian higher education. In Higher Education (pp. 9-29). Vol. 18.
Arnold, D. (2002). Reading the past. What is architectural history? In Arnold, D. (eds.) Reading Architectural History (pp. 1-13). London and New York: Routledge.
Arnold, O. (2010). Historicism. In Payne, M. and J. R. Barbera (Eds.). A dictionary of Cultural and Critical Theory (2nd ed.) (pp. 332-334). Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.
Alexander, C., Ishikawa, S., and Silverstein, M. (1977). Pattern language: Towns, Buildings, Constructions. Oxford University Press.
Alexander, C. (1979). The timeless way of building (Vol. 1). Oxford University Press.
Anal, A. K. S. (1990). Origin and Growth of Towns. Concept Publishing Company.
Ahmad, N., & Sanday, J. (1984). Discover the monuments of Bangladesh. Dhaka: University Press Limited.
Ahmad, N. (1986) Buildings of the British Raj in Bangladesh. Dhaka: University Press Limited.
Ashcroft, B., Griffiths, G., & Tiffin, H. (2007). POST-COLONIAL STUDIES The Key Concepts, London and New York: Routledge.
Anthony L. A. (1994). Cities, Classes, and the Social Order. New York: Cornell University Press.
Akyüz, Y. (Ed.). (2002). Reforming the global financial architecture: issues and proposals. London: Zed Books.
Basham, A. L. (1975). A Cultural History of India. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Baydar, G. (1998). Toward Postcolonial Openings: Rereading Sir Banister Fletcher's" History of Architecture". Assemblage, (35), 7-17.
Begum J. A., Rashid, R. and Ali, M. (2011). Managing Architectural Education in Bangladesh – A Need for Change. World Business Review, 1(2), 20-34.
Bhatt, V., & Scriver, P. (1990) After the Masters. New York: Mapin Pub.
Bunnell, T., & Maringanti, A. (2010). Practising urban and regional research beyond metrocentricity. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 34(2), 415-420.
Chakrabarti, D. K., (1992) Ancient Bangladesh: A study of the archaeological sources (10, 128.) Delhi: Oxford University Press.
Chapin, F. S. (1965). Urban land use planning. University of Illinois Press.
Ching, F. D. K., Jarzombek, M., & Prakash, V. (2011). A global history of architecture. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley
Ching F.D. K., & Eckler, J. F. (2006) Introduction to Architecture. (4th ed.) New Jersey: Wiley
City mayors (2007). The world’s fastest growing cities and urban areas from 2006 to 2020, City mayors Statistics. Retrieved from, http://www.citymayors.com/statistics/urban_growth1.html
Claire, William H. (eds.). (1969) Urban Planning Guide. Urban Planning and Development Division Committee on Review of Urban Planning Guide. New York: American Society of Civil Engineers.
Correa, C. (1999). Housing and Urbanization. Mumbai: Urban Design Research Institute (UDRI).
Crook, J. M. (1984). Architectural History. Design and Practice in British Architecture, 27, 555-578.
Curtis, J. R. W. (1987). Modernism and the Search for Indian Identity. Architectural Review 182
Donat, J.(Eds.) (1966). World Architecture, (3). London: Studio Vista Publisher.
Doshi, B. V., & Alexander, C. (1966) the Concept of Main Structure. In World Architecture.
Doshi, B. V.(1995) the living Environment. Ahmedabad: Vastu-Shilpa Foundation for Studies and Research in Environmental Design.
Faludi, A. (1973) Planning theory. Pergamon Press.
Fleming, W. (1955) Arts and Ideas. Wadsworth Publishing Co Inc.
Fletcher, B. (1996). A History of Architecture. New York: Architectural Press.
Fox, R. G. (1977). Urban Anthropology: cities in their Cultural Settings. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall
Gallion, A. B., & Eisner, S. (1993). The Urban pattern: City planning and design. New York: John Wiley & Sons
Ghafur, S. (2010). Imprints of the Changing Doctrines on Housing in Dhaka. International Conference the History Heritage and Urban Issues of Capital Dhaka, 17-19 February, Dhaka.
Gregory, D. (2009). Historicism. In: D. Gregory, R. Johnston, G. Pratt, M. J. Watts and S. Whatmore (eds.) The dictionary of human geography (5th Ed.), WILEYBlackwell, Chichester, pp. 336-337
Grover, S., (1981) The architecture of India: Islamic (727-1707 A.D.). Vikas Pub. House Publishers.
Gupta, A. (2006). Early childhood education, postcolonial theory, and teaching practices in India: balancing Vygotsky and the Veda. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Hamid, S. (1985). Urban Design Process. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
Hannerz, U. (1980). Exploring the City: Inquiries Toward an Urban Anthropology. Columbia University Press
Harris, D. (2011). That’s Not Architectural History. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 70(2), pp. 149-152
Hasan, P. (1989) Sultanate mosques and continuity in Bengal architecture, Muqarnas, 58-74.
Hasan, P. (2007) Sultans and mosques: The early Muslim architecture of Bangladesh, IB Tauris.
Hasan, S. M. (1979) Mosque architecture of pre-Mughal Bengal, University Press Limited.
Hasan, S. M. (1983) Glimpses of Muslim art and architecture. Islamic Foundation Bangladesh.
Hasan, S. M. (1989) Islamic Architecture of Bengal. University Press Limited.
Hassan, U. (1995) Charles Correa. New York: Illuminating Engineering Society of North America.
Howarth, T. (1957). Some Thoughts on Teaching History. JAE, Vol. 12(2), pp. 12-14
Jencks, C. (1973). Modem Movement in Architecture. Massachusetts: Anchor Press.
Jencks, C. (1978). The language of Post Modern Architecture, (9th ed.). London: academy edition.
Jencks, C. (1987). A Modern Movement in Architecture. (2nd ed.). New York: Penguin Group Incorporated.
Jurgen, J. D. (1985). History of Modern Architecture. (2nd ed.). New York: Frederick A. Praeger.
Kenneth, F. (1992). Modem Architecture: A Critical history. London: Thames and Hudson
Khan H. U. (1987) Architectural Education: Learning from Developing Countries. JAE, 40(2), 31-32
Kohane, P. (1996). Interpreting past and present: an approach to architectural history. Architectural Theory Review, 2(1), 30-37. Sydney.
Koolhaas, R. (2002). Africa Comes First. In Mulder, A. et al. (eds.) TransUrbanism ( pp. 161-192), Amsterdam: NAi Publishers.
Keeble, L. B. (1969) Principles and practice of town and country planning. Michigan: Estates Gazette Publishers.
Leeds, A. (1994). Cities, Classes, and the Social Order. Cornell University Press.
Lévy-Leboyer, C. (1982). Psychology and environment, Beverly Hills: Sage Publications.
Lu, D. (2011). Introduction. In: D. Lu (ed.) Third World Modernism (pp. 1-28), Oxon and New York: Routledge.
Lynch, K. (1995) City sense and city design: writings and projects of Kevin Lynch. MIT press.
Lynch, K. (1960) The City Image and its Elements. MIT press.
Lynch, K. (1960) The image of the city (11). MIT press.
Majumdar, R. C., and Sarkar, J. (Eds.). (1943). The History of Bengal (2), University of Dacca.
Michell, G. (1984) The Islamic Heritage of Bengal (1). New York: UNESCO.
Michell, G. (1984). Brick Temples of Bengal. N.J.: Princeton University Press.
Misra, R. P., & Achyutha, R. N. (Eds.). (1989). Micro-Level Rural Planning: Principles, Methods and Case Studies. New Delhi: Concept Publishing Company.
Moffett, M., Fazio, M., &Wodehouse, L. (2003). A World History of Architecture, London: Laurence king Publishing Ltd.
Mowla, Q. A. (2016). Colonial Spatial Planning versus Local Tradition in the Morphology of Urban Dhaka. In: Rahman, M. (eds.) Dhaka: An Urban Reader (pp. 11-39). Dhaka: The University Press Limited (UPL).
Mumford, L. (1945). City Development: Studies in Disintegration and Renewal. Greenwood Publishing Group.
Paul, D. S. (1965). Urban Design: The Architecture of Towns and Cities. New York: McGraw-Hill
Palmer, D. J. (2006). Historicism, in: P. Childs and R. Fowler (eds.), The Routledge Dictionary of Literary Terms ( pp. 108-109). London and New York: Routledge.
Percy, B. (1949). History of Indian Architecture (2).Bombay.
Pevsner, N. (1942). An outline of European Architecture. Layton, United States: Gibbs Smith, Publisher.
Pollio, V. (1914). Vitruvius: Ten Books on Architecture, New York: Dover Publications.
Pyla, P. (1999). Historicizing Pedagogy: A Critique of Kostof's A History of Architecture. JAE, 052(4), 216-225. London.
Raeburn, M. (1980). Architecture of the Western world. New York: Rizzoli International Publications.
Roy, A. (2011). Rethinking Subaltern Urbanism. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 35(2), 223-238
R. G. Fox. (1977). Urban Anthropology: Cities in Their Cultural Settings, Prentice-Hall.
Ratcliffe, J. (1974). An introduction to town and country planning. Hutchinson Educational Publishers.
Ray, N. R. (1994) History of the Bengali people: ancient period. New York: Orient Longmans.
Said, E. (1978). Orientalism. New York: Vintage.
Sharma, B. B. (2004). A text book on housing. Dhaka.
Singh, D. K. (1993) Shelter environment and settlement planning in rural Orissa Nandalal, Rural Settlement, Planning and development
Snyder, J. C. & Catanese, A. J. (1979). Introduction to Architecture. New York: McGraw-Hill
Spreiregen, P. D. (1965). Urban design. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Stara, A. (2010). Cultivating architects. History in architectural education. In: S. Bandyopadhyay et. al. (eds.) The Humanities in Architectural Design. A contemporary and historical perspective, Routledge, London and New York, pp. 28-35.
Stein, N. (1969) European Architecture in India.
Strassmann, W. P. (1982). The transformation of urban housing: The experience of upgrading in Cartagena, World Bank.
Tadgell, C. (1994). The History of Architecture in India. New York: Phaidon Press.
Thapar, R., (1990). A History of India: Volume 1. Penguin Books Publishers.
Torre, S. (2002). Teaching Architectural History in Latin America: The Elusive Unifying Architectural Discourse. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 61(4), 549-558.
Taylor, F.B., Raj Reweal, Peter, G. (Ed.), (2001). Architecture in the twentieth century (Vol. 1), Taschen.
Turner, J. F., and Fichter, R., (Eds.). (1972). Freedom to build: Dweller control of the housing process. Macmillan.
Ventury, R. (1977). Complexities and Contradictions in Architecture.
Veona, D.R. (1985). Low In-come Rural Housing: a model for government policy and action. Ashish Pub. House.
Weiner, F. (2005). Five Critical Horizons for Architectural Educators in an Age of Distraction. In Harder, E. (Eds.) Writings in architectural education, EAAE, (26), pp. 22-45.
Wirth, L. (1938). Urbanism as a Way of Life. American Journal of Sociology, 44 (7), (1-24).
Wittkower, R. (1971). Architectural Principles in the Age of Humanism. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
Zahiruddin, S. A., Imamuddin A.H., & Khan, M. M. (Eds.).(1990). Contemporary Architecture of Bangladesh. Dhaka: IAB publication.
Zakaria, A. K. M.,(1984) Bangladesher Pratna Sampad. Dacca.
Zucker, P.(Eds.)(1944). New Architecture and City Planning: A Symposium. New York: Philosophical Library.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2022 Khulna University Studies
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.