The Appearances of Memory: Mnemonic Practices of Architecture and Urban Form in Indonesia (Asia-Pacific, Culture, Politics, and Society) - Softcover

Kusno, Abidin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0822346478 ISBN 13: 9780822346470

Publisher: Duke University Press Books, 2010

Synopsis

In The Appearances of Memory, the Indonesian architectural and urban historian Abidin Kusno explores the connections between the built environment and political consciousness in Indonesia during the colonial and postcolonial eras. Focusing primarily on Jakarta, he describes how perceptions of the past, anxieties about the rapid pace of change in the present, and hopes for the future have been embodied in architecture and urban space at different historical moments. He argues that the built environment serves as a reminder of the practices of the past and an instantiation of the desire to remake oneself within, as well as beyond, one’s particular time and place.

Addressing developments in Indonesia since the fall of President Suharto’s regime in 1998, Kusno delves into such topics as the domestication of traumatic violence and the restoration of order in the urban space, the intense interest in urban history in contemporary Indonesia, and the implications of “superblocks,” large urban complexes consisting of residences, offices, shops, and entertainment venues. Moving farther back in time, he examines how Indonesian architects reinvented colonial architectural styles to challenge the political culture of the state, how colonial structures such as railway and commercial buildings created a new, politically charged cognitive map of cities in Java in the early twentieth century, and how the Dutch, in attempting to quell dissent, imposed a distinctive urban visual order in the 1930s. Finally, the present and the past meet in his long-term considerations of how Java has responded to the global flow of Islamic architecture, and how the meanings of Indonesian gatehouses have changed and persisted over time. The Appearances of Memory is a pioneering look at the roles of architecture and urban development in Indonesia’s ongoing efforts to move forward.

About this title

From the Back Cover

""The Appearances of Memory "offers fresh perspectives and intriguing analyses of the political culture of Indonesia as expressed through architecture, development, spatial relationships, and other facets of urban development in the colonial and national periods. It is further evidence of Abidin Kusno's unique capacity to probe the inner life of Indonesia's distinct political culture and to connect it to the structures that give it meaning."--Christopher Silver, author of "Planning the Megacity: Jakarta in the Twentieth Century"

About the Author

Abidin Kusno is Associate Professor at the Institute of Asian Research and Faculty Associate of the Department of Art History, Visual Art, and Theory at the University of British Columbia, where he holds a Canada Research Chair in Asian Urbanism and Culture. He is the author of Behind the Postcolonial: Architecture, Urban Space, and Political Cultures in Indonesia.

Edition details

• Publisher: Duke University Press Books
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0822346478
• ISBN 13: 9780822346470
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 352