The Great Development Exhibition: Mass Housing and the Representation of Postcolonial Modernity in South Asia
Author: Markus Daechsel (Department of History, Royal Holloway, University of London Reader in History)
Vol.&No.:Vol. 67, No. 2
Date:September 2022
Pages:33-73
DOI:https://doi.org/10.6210/JNTNU.202209_67(2).0002
Abstract:
The notion of a “Great Development Exhibition” opens up the politics of representation at some signature events in development urbanism of the 1950s: the 1954 exhibition on low-cost tropical housing in New Delhi and Pakistan’s landmark projects for the new satellite town of Korangi near Karachi, and the new national capital of Islamabad. Practices of representation associated with grand exhibitions and international trade fairs often found a functional equivalent in the “demonstration sectors” created to be the first visible parts of the new cities designed from scratch. At these exhibition events, two ideological tendencies were at work: on the one hand, a transnational, universalist discourse of development that sought to recast the world as a unitary field of action defined by a new set of scientific variables and methodologies; and on the other hand, a nationalist need to represent the essence of the new postcolonial states of South Asia in their historical and cultural uniqueness. The encounter between these two tendencies was conflictual, nuanced and differed substantially between national settings. In the final analysis, methodologies predicated on the “deconstruction” of modes of representation alone inevitably break down when faced with the micropolitics of locality. Contrary to the “grand exhibitions” held in European or North American cities in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Great Development Exhibition cannot be interpreted exhaustively as a site where a global orientalist master discourse unfolds its power/knowledge.
Keywords:development urbanism, India, mass housing policy, national identity, Pakistan
《Full Text》
References:
- Ames, Kenneth. “Britain in a Tin Shack Blushes.” Daily Mail, 10 September, 1955.
- Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. Rev. ed. London, UK: Verso, 2006.
- Bet-Shlimon, Arbella. City of Black Gold: Oil, Ethnicity, and the Making of Modern Kirkuk. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2019.
- Blackman, Harrison. “The Visionary in the Marsh: Doxiadis and the Dream of Eastwick.” Paper presented at the Delos Network, Workshop 2: Delos Practices, Athens, Greece, 15 September, 2018.
- Bromley, Ray. “Towards Global Human Settlements: Constantinos Doxiadis as Entrepreneur, Coalition-Builder and Visionary.” In Urbanism: Imported or Exported?, edited by Joe Nasr and Mercedes Volait, 316-340. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, 2003.
» More
- Ames, Kenneth. “Britain in a Tin Shack Blushes.” Daily Mail, 10 September, 1955.
- Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. Rev. ed. London, UK: Verso, 2006.
- Bet-Shlimon, Arbella. City of Black Gold: Oil, Ethnicity, and the Making of Modern Kirkuk. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2019.
- Blackman, Harrison. “The Visionary in the Marsh: Doxiadis and the Dream of Eastwick.” Paper presented at the Delos Network, Workshop 2: Delos Practices, Athens, Greece, 15 September, 2018.
- Bromley, Ray. “Towards Global Human Settlements: Constantinos Doxiadis as Entrepreneur, Coalition-Builder and Visionary.” In Urbanism: Imported or Exported?, edited by Joe Nasr and Mercedes Volait, 316-340. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons, 2003.
- Chatterjee, Partha. “Development Planning and the Indian State.” In State and Politics in India, edited by Partha Chatterjee, 271-297. New Delhi, India: Oxford University Press, 1997.
- Constantinos A. Doxiadis Archives.
- Constantinos A. Doxiadis Archive: India Volume 1. “No 5.30.”
- Constantinos A. Doxiadis Archive: India Volume 3. “Notes II.”
- Constantinos A. Doxiadis Archive: Pakistan Volume 3. “Pakistan Ekistics,” “Dox 21.”
- Constantinos A. Doxiadis Archive: Pakistan Volume 16. “Report Dox-PA 29.”
- Constantinos A. Doxiadis Archive: Pakistan Volume 41. “Diary PA 100-1960,” “Diary PA102.”
- Constantinos A. Doxiadis Archive: Pakistan Volume 96. “File R-PKH 157.”
- Constantinos A. Doxiadis Archive: Pakistan Volume 111. “File C-PI 1722.”
- Constantinos A. Doxiadis Archive: Pakistan Volume 114. “File C-PI 2769,” “Islamabad Newsletter.”
- Constantinos A. Doxiadis Archive: Pakistan Volume 157. “File C-PI 3112.”
- Constantinos A. Doxiadis Archive: Pakistan Volume 160. “File C-PI-4211.”
- Constantinos A. Doxiadis Archive: Pakistan Volume 188. “File C-PKH 6109.”
- Daechsel, Markus. Islamabad and the Politics of International Development in Pakistan. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107298033.
- Daechsel, Markus. “Misplaced Ekistics: Islamabad and the Politics of Urban Development in Pakistan.” South Asian History and Culture 4, no. 1 (2013): 87-106. https://doi.org/10.1080/19472498.2012.750458.
- Daechsel, Markus. “Sovereignty, Governmentality and Development in Ayub’s Pakistan: The Case of Korangi Township.” Modern Asian Studies 45, no. 1 (2011): 131-157. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0026749X1000034X.
- Daechsel, Markus. “The Subject of Development: Foucault, History, and 244 Mass Housing under the Ayub Khan Regime.” In State and Subject Formation in South Asia, edited by Amen Jaffer and Mashal Saif, 244-274. Karachi, Pakistan: Oxford University Press, 2022.
- Dawn, 8 December, 1959.
- Doxiades, Konstantinos Apostolou, and J. G. Papaioannou. Ecumenopolis: The Inevitable City of the Future. New York, NY: Norton, 1974.
- Doxiades, Konstantinos Apostolou, and National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials. Urban Renewal and the Future of the American City. Chicago, IL: Public Administration Service, 1966.
- Doxiades, Konstantinos Apostolou, and Technikon Grapheion Doxiade. The Future of Human Settlements. [Technikon Grapheion Doxiade] Document R-Gen-a 443. Athens, Greece: Doxiadis Associates, Consultants on Development and Ekistics, 1969.
- Doxiadis Associates. Ekistics: The Problems and Science of Human Settlements. Cambridge, MA: J. Tyrwhitt, 1996.
- “Environment: Visionary Zeal in Detroit.” Time, 19 October, 1970.
- Escobar, Arturo. Encountering Development: The Making and Unmaking of the Third World. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1995.
- Fraser, Bashabi. A Meeting of Two Minds: Geddes Tagore Letters. Rev. ed. Edinburgh, UK: Word Power Books, 2005.
- Fraser, Nancy. “Rethinking Recognition.” New Left Review 3, no. May/June (2000): 107-120.
- Geddes, Patrick, and Jaqueline Tyrwhitt. Patrick Geddes in India. London, UK: L. Humphries, 1947.
- Geppert, Alexander C. T. Fleeting Cities: Imperial Expositions in Fin-de-Siècle Europe. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230281837.
- Gilman, Nils. Mandarins of the Future: Modernization Theory in Cold War America. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003.
- Government of India, Ministry of Works, Housing and Supplies. “Model Houses Constructed in the INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION on Low-Cost Housing: Designs for Low-Cost Housing.” Accessed 5 June, 2022, https://architexturez.net/doc/az-cf-177965.
- Jalal, Ayesha. The Sole Spokesman: Jinnah, the Muslim League and the Demand for Pakistan. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1985. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511558856.
- Jalal, Ayesha. The Struggle for Pakistan: A Muslim Homeland and Global Politics. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2014. https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674735859.
- Kalia, Ravi. Chandigarh: The Making of an Indian City. New Delhi, India: Oxford University Press, 1999.
- Kaur, Ravinder. Since 1947: Partition Narratives among Punjabi Migrants of Delhi. New Delhi, India: Oxford University Press, 2007. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195683776.001.0001.
- Khan, Yasmin. The Great Partition: The Making of India and Pakistan. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1bzfp93.
- Khilnani, Sunil. The Idea of India. London, UK: Hamish Hamilton, 1997.
- Khwaja, Zahir-ud Deen. Memoirs of an Architect. Lahore, Pakistan: Z.D. Khwaja, 1998.
- Kim, Jeannie. “C. A. Doxiadis and the Funding of the Ecumenopolis.” Paper presented at the Space and Progress – Ekistics and the Global Context of Post-World War II Urbanization and Architecture, Athens, Greece, 1 December, 2006.
- Kwak, Nancy H. A World of Homeowners: American Power and the Politics of Housing Aid. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2015. https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226282497.001.0001.
- Kyrtsis, Alexandros-Andreas, ed. Constantinos A. Doxiadis: Texts, Design Drawings, Settlements. Athens, Greece: Ikaros, 2006.
- Lee, Rachel. Ok India: Otto Koenigsberger, Urban Visions and Architecture in India. Liverpool, UK: TAG Press/University of Liverpool, 2015.
- Lee, Rachel. “The German Architect Who Led Independent India’s First Attempt at Prefabricated Housing.” Accessed 26 June, 2018, https://scroll.in/magazine/881630/the-german-architectwho-led-independent-india’s-first-attempt-at-prefabricated-housing.
- Lorenzini, Sara. Global Development: A Cold War History. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2019. https://doi.org/10.23943/princeton/9780691180151.001.0001.
- McGarr, Paul M. The Cold War in South Asia: Britain, the United States and the Indian Subcontinent, 1945-1965. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2013. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139022071.
- Miescher, Stephan F. A Dam for Africa: Akosombo Stories from Ghana. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2022.
- Muzaffar, M. Ijlal. “Boundary Games: Ecochard, Doxiadis, and the Refugee Housing Projects under Military Rule in Pakistan, 1953-1959.” In Governing by Design: Architecture, Economy, and Politics in the Twentieth Century, edited by Aggregate Architectural History Collaborative, 147-176. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2012. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt5hjpbr.10.
- Nehru, Jawaharlal. “Opening Remarks at the International Exhibition on Low-Cost Housing by the Prime Minister,” 25 October, 1953. Accessed 5 June, 2022. https://architexturez.net/doc/azcf-178246.
- Nilsson, Sten Åke. The New Capitals of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Lund, Sweden: Studentlitteratur, 1973.
- “Pakistan and the Middle East.” The Times, 30 July, 1949.
- Papanek, Gustav Fritz. Pakistan’s Development, Social Goals and Private Incentives. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1967.
- Parvaiz Chishti of Chishti Brothers, Oral History Interview, Lahore, 2 November, 2007.
- Prakash, Vikramaditya. Chandigarh’s Le Corbusier: The Struggle for Modernity in Postcolonial India. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, 2002.
- Pyla, Panayiota I. “Hassan Fathy Revisited, Postwar Discourses on Science, Development, and Vernacular Architecture.” Journal of Architectural Education 60, no. 3 (2007): 28-39. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1531-314X.2007.00093.x.
- Qureshi, Sadiah. Peoples on Parade: Exhibitions, Empire, and Anthropology in Nineteenth-Century Britain. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2011. https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226700984.001.0001.
- Rist, Gilbert. The History of Development: From Western Origins to Global Faith. London, UK: Zed Books, 1997.
- Rosenstein-Rodan, P. N. “Problems of Industrialisation of Eastern and South-Eastern Europe.” The Economic Journal 53, no. 210/211 (1943): 202-211. https://doi.org/10.2307/2226317.
- Rostow, Walt W. The Stages of Economic Growth: A Non-Communist Manifesto. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1960.
- Said, Edward W. Orientalism. New York, NY: Pantheon Books, 1978.
- Sarin, Madhu. Urban Planning in the Third World: The Chandigarh Experience. London, UK: Mansell, 1982.
- Scott, James C. Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1998. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctvxkn7ds.
- Shaikh, Farzana. Making Sense of Pakistan. New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 2009.
- Shoshkes, Ellen. Jaqueline Tyrwhitt: A Transnational Life in Urban Planning and Design. London, UK: Routledge, 2016. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315590356.
- Shoshkes, Ellen. “Mid-Century Modernism: Jaqueline Tyrwhitt and the Village Center at the 1954 International Exhibition of Low-Cost Housing in New Delhi.” Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review 24, no. 1 (2012): 14.
- Sivaramakrishnan, K. C. “Urban Housing: Challenge and Response.” Economic & Political Weekly 4, no. 36 (1969): 1443-1445.
- Subject File 34705, “United Nations, Technical Assistance Administration: Manual of Instruction: India, 1953.”
- Thorner, Alice. “Nehru, Albert Mayer, and Origins of Community Projects.” Economic & Political Weekly 16, no. 4 (1981): 117-120.
- Time, 4 November, 1966.
- Unger, Corinna R. International Development: A Postwar History. London, UK: Bloomsbury Academic, 2018. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781474204514.
- “U.S. Video a Hit at Fair; Other Exhibitors at Karachi See Viewers’ Backs.” New York Times, 17 September, 1955.
- Zachariah, Benjamin. Developing India: An Intellectual and Social History. New Delhi, India: Oxford University Press, 2005. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195670585.001.0001.
- Zaman, Muhammad Qasim. Islam in Pakistan: A History. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2018. https://doi.org/10.23943/princeton/9780691149226.001.0001.