Critical Practice and Contemporary Discourse

American University of Sharjah Arc 581: Critical Practice and Contemporary Discourse Archival Research Professor Faysal Tabarrah

Farah Ahmed

Archival Research

Inside a common financial file that forms part of the India Office Records, an example of British, Arabic-language propaganda sits between financial accounts of the Bahraini government. Within the archive, two folios contain financial account information typed on the back of two posters. Those two select posters were produced by the British Government during World War II. According to the record information provided by the Archive’s source, it seems that the posters were used by the British Political Agency in Bahrain instead of normal paper due to a shortage of supplies due to the implications caused

by World War II. Uncovering these documents reveal a certain kind of normalization of the British Imperialist rule in the Middle East. The normalcy observed is due to the overexposure of the imperialist propaganda in the form of image-making.

The accounts written on the back of the posters date back to 1943 according to the Hijri dates printed on the pages (1362 and 1363). The posters are not dated, however, looking closely at one of the posters, the text below says " ...‫ "ﯾﺘﺒﺎﺣﺜﻮن ﻓﻲ ﻣﺴﺄﻟﺔ اﻋﺎدة ﺗﺨﻄﯿﻂ ﻟﻨﺪن‬which translates into "... looking into the issue of re-planning London" (fig.1). The post-Second World War re-planning of London is an event that was occurring in the early 1940s, nearly contemporaneous with the dates of the accounts written on the back of the posters. The posters attempt to encourage a powerful, progressive image of Britain and emphasize the engagement of school children, of both genders, in the British public and in becoming the future of the country. One of the posters suggest references to Britain's "Democratic" Parliament as well as to the allegedly inclusive nature of a modern Britain that involved young people in broader issues related to society. The poster reveals those intentions by representing children involved in a parliament like-setting.

The second poster displays a more noticeable militaristic vision of British youth. A photograph of a boy in British Army uniform holding a gun sits above the phrase ‘Students of British Schools Practice Today to be the Builders and Soldiers of Tomorrow’ (fig.2). The text addresses military service for young people and even minors in the country. Britain was a global imperial power whose political demonstration in Bahrain often acknowledged the oppression of freedom in the nation. By contrast, the propaganda posters throughout the region suggested otherwise by using wording such as ‘For the Sake of Freedom’ below the Union flag on both posters.

According to (Taylor,1999), throughout the events of the 2nd World War, Nations such as Great Britain and Nazi Germany attempted to gain control of the middle eastern regions using numerous means of propaganda. For example, the German government would often use radio transmissions in the language of the natives, which created an interest in the German cause in various areas of the gulf. As such, to gain over the gulf region the British government made use of printed materials to counter the German opposition, such propaganda was true in the nation of Bahrain. Though the country of Bahrain was never a member of the British empire, a few treaties were agreed between the British and the royal Bahrain families. Therefore, Bahrain was later incorporated into the British imperial system and thus permitting the British propaganda into the borders of Bahrain (Taylor, 1999).

Farah Ahmed

Archival Research

Fig. 1 Poster of Children in a parliament setting

Fig.2 Poster of children studying industrial objects and engaging in military activity.

References: M. Taylor, British Propaganda in the 20th Century: Selling Democracy (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1999) 'File 19/176 VI Bahrain Finances' [42v] (83/253), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/R/15/1/355, in Qatar Digital Library

American University of Sharjah Arc 581: Critical Practice and Contemporary Discourse Sharjah Architectural Triennale Exhibition Review

ARC 581: Critical Practice and Contemporary Discourse Farah Ahmed

Apr/26/2020

Sharjah Architectural Triennale Exhibition Review

In the Sharjah Architectural Triennale, Al-qassimiyyah School, Mohammed Elshahed and Farida Makar analyse nation-building and its influence on perceptions of futurity in post-independence politics particularly in the pedagogical discourse of modern" Egyptian schools. The authors have investigated the establishment of the modern Egyptian state, concentrating on the government's scheme to design and build thousands of new schools based on a scope of standard archetypes.

Entering the room of the exhibition, a dark old looking classroom with paint chipped off from its walls, the deep voice of an Arabic-speaking man echoes in the room, it is a recorded speech that suggests persuasion and authority. At first glance, you are confronted with a projected photograph of school children on a sheer white semi- open curtain (fig. 1.1). Going past the curtain, you see children's chairs facing a projected screen. A photograph of Jamal Abd al Nasser is hung in the top part of the wall. Within that space, you are immediately drawn to a loud clicking sound of three old projectors. The sound lures the viewer to look inside the projectors and see the film slides in rotation(fig.1.2). The ambiance of the room gives a sensation of entering an old abandoned time-capsule.

Using historical documents and photographs, the author examined a significant period in the history of education in Egypt, particularly the changes and progressions that took place under the Nasser regime. In 1952 the School Premises State Foundation (SPSF) was established. Its purpose was to reform and modernize the Egyptian educational system. The SPSF aimed to build many schools across the country, as the first step to institutionalize modern education was to increase the number of schools to counter the increasing population of children in need of education. Therefore, they have commissioned the design of modern functional school prototypes to be used as a model. The installation exposes how the SPSF's goal of providing child-centred education was hindered by the rigidity of the modernistic functionalist architecture of the schools.

The schools’ regulated modernist and functionalist design fulfilled the idea of the centralized state’s prerequisite of universal education across the nation. This was a result of an adherence to the widespread influence of the "International Style" movement of architecture. Nasser's nation-building of Egypt has incorporated some perspectives of the Modernist movement. He believed that the making of a strong independent nation could be achieved through means of modernity. One problematic aspect of implementing an "international" way of thinking was that the architectural development was negligent of local particularities of the region. Both educational pedagogies and school buildings were not adequately responsive to settings and context. to elaborate, the schools' curricula were also modernized, meaning that textbooks were rewritten and were adopted across the country regardless of the setting, socioeconomic status, or historical and cultural traditions. As pedagogy became more standardized, the lessons students received became more unified, and more dependent on rote memorization instead of active engagement.

What was also visible through the immense school building program of SPSF was the employment of education as a political tool to rebuild nationwide awareness and socialist visions of the future of Egyptian society. Schools were expected to produce "future Egyptians", humans that portray and obey a set of rules that characterize the "modern" Egyptian man/woman. The author reveals that by a slideshow on a screen displaying a reoccurring old photograph of school children with big bold red sentences that manifests the political use of education as a social engineering tool (fig. 2.1). The message is reinforced by repeating the sentences shown in the slideshow in the form of poem-like text printed on the wall (fig. 2.2).

The nature of the proposed classroom was initially qualified to serve child-centred learning. However, the distribution of the desks in juxtaposition to the teacher clearly shows an authoritative mode of learning.

Additionally, there was a clear symbol of authority present in the classroom, a portrait of Jamal Abdel Nasser was hung opposite to the students looking down on them. The author portrayed that message by placing a projected portrait of Nasser on the wall facing the chairs (fig. 3.1). As the number of students increased, the rooms no longer became accommodating to child-centred learning, as they became too crowded. The author unveils that through a slideshow of architectural drawings of the classrooms. (fig. 3.2) Perhaps it was challenging for the authors to use a room that was in poor condition. The room may not have exactly looked as clean or new compared to the other exhibitions. Nonetheless, the nature of the room served to build up a transtemporal atmosphere that expresses the marriage between the subject of the exhibition (old schools) and the viewer's setting (an old classroom).

ARC 581: Critical Practice and Contemporary Discourse Farah Ahmed

Sharjah Architectural Triennale Exhibition Review

(fig. 1.1) A sheer white curtain forms a threshold.

Apr/26/2020

ARC 581: Critical Practice and Contemporary Discourse Farah Ahmed

Sharjah Architectural Triennale Exhibition Review

(fig. 1.2). old, used children’s chairs facing a projected screen.

(fig. 2.1). A slideshow of text on an old photograph of school children

Apr/26/2020

ARC 581: Critical Practice and Contemporary Discourse Farah Ahmed

Sharjah Architectural Triennale Exhibition Review

(fig. 2.2). Text of the slideshow printed on the wall adjacent to the screen.

(fig. 3.1). Projected portrait of Jamal Abdel Nasser hung above the projected screen.

Apr/26/2020

ARC 581: Critical Practice and Contemporary Discourse Farah Ahmed

Sharjah Architectural Triennale Exhibition Review

(fig. 3.2). Projected slide showing how crowded the classrooms became.

Apr/26/2020

American University of Sharjah Arc 581: Critical Practice and Contemporary Discourse Critical Reading Response on Marlene Ghorayeb

Marlene Ghorayyeb approaches the planning proposals of Beirut through an analysis of their modern means of urban planning. The Danger brothers and Michael Ecochard were the vessels through which French modernistic spatial intentions were transferred to the Levant.

As Ghorayyeb addresses Ecochard, she unravels his discomfort at the visualized lack of legislative planning framework, and his persuasion of an institutionalized urban planning practice.

Although Ecochard has not adhered to a colonialist path, his work had notable political tendencies as Ghrayyeb mentioned.

Ecochard’s ideologies were driven by a notion of equity for the common class, and the avoidance of serving private interests. This can not just be viewed as a personal objective, but rather a true modernist venture, the creation of a transparent framework that serves the masses within equity and rationality. The concern over modernizing “oriental cities” could be evocative of the colonial laboratorial work on Morroccan lands, however in Beirut, Ecochard used a humbler approach.

It is arguable that Ecochard's planned interventions are based on a careful reading of Beirut's socio-political and economic divisions. It is visible in his work that he had a functionalist vision, but it can be described as a more peaceful modernist approach. However, there is multidimensional disturbance in Ecochards intervention because the act of reorganizing neighbourhoods and setting up an imposed framework on a pre-existing condition does not only affect the space of the place but also its time. this intervention creates a long living legacy that determines the products of the urban environment. The question is, do these products nowadays reflect an achievement of socio-economic equity? Perhaps it was beneficial to some and harmful to others, nevertheless it cannot be escapable that Ecochards ghost shall continue to roam in the alleys of Beirut.

American University of Sharjah Arc 581: Critical Practice and Contemporary Discourse Critical Reading Response on Iraqi Architecture

In the History of Iraq, there seems to be evident cycles of destruction and attempts of resurrection occurring consecutively. In the post-colonial period, the Iraqi development board sought out opportunities for reform, a call for restoring a nations legacy, and a demand for a developed urban scene that rids the Iraqi community of colonial burden and feeds a claim of independence.

Similar to the case of post-colonial Egypt, the calls for development brought upon a manifold of imaginaries that acted upon urban restructuring of landscapes. The IDB, being a dominant figure in the Iraqi government, requested the assistance of multiple western architects that were known not just for their modernism but also for their work in the MENA region. It is safe to say that Frank Lloyd Wright, Walter Gropius, Le Corbusier, -not disregarding the distinction of their work- carry a somewhat orientalist imaginary towards the MENA lands, even through their pure modernistic endeavours. Also, the Doxiadis Master plan proposes a persuasion of a structured, orderly, uniform master plan, which can also remind us of the work of Ecochard in Lebanon and several other western urban planners that worked in the MENA region. This preoccupation with visual order as the author Panayiota Pyla described is on its own a vision that has been repeatedly put in action in Iraq after colonialism, and to an extent, it brings with it a consequence of social and cultural insensitivity.

To look at other imaginaries that participated in this reform, it is notable that Iraqi architects all shared a vision that advocates retention of cultural and traditional ideologies, but in a progressive manner. Dissimilar to Doxiadis, Mohammed Makiyas urban planning objectives were to actively consider the history and people of the place. The work of Hisham Munir and Rifat Chadirji both focused on the integration of modern technologies and experiments with new construction materials into architecture that recognizes culture. However, it is possible to question the motives of incorporating culture and tradition into technologically advanced architecture if this incorporation is purely done in the formal qualities of the building? If these forms and motifs represent culture in a superficial manner, then what cultural benefits can we draw out from local architects works?

American University of Sharjah Arc 581: Critical Practice and Contemporary Discourse Critical Reading Response on Alan Mikhail

Alan Mikhail demonstrated how the environmental history of the MENA region did not only shape natural history or human history separately, but instead the relationships between the people and the environment on a social, economic and political basis. This statement could also refer to Dipak Chakrabarty’s call for a non-mono-directional assessment of history. The obtuseness to political and social events when studying the environmental history of the MENA region in particular could lead to an oblivious presentation of a time frame, as the environmental history of the MENA region has also had a global effect on other regions histories. Alan Mikhail also stated that to understand the history of agricultural products and climactic trends across the globe, one must understand the middle eastern component of that history, yet it remains to be under searched. An assessment if the middle eastern environmental history could be found in John Robert McNeils chapter, as he was trying to analyze the MENA history by categorizing some of the main organic components of the land and relating them back to socio-economic and political attitudes.

To think of a recent example on how a political context would be intertwined with the environmental history of a place, the issue of natural resource exploitation in the occupied territories in Palestine could provide some insight. The course of natural gas discovery in Palestine coincided with many important political events. Particularly in the Gaza Strip, natural gas was discovered in the 2000, which was in the year that preceded the Palestinian-Israeli conflict or the “Intifada”. This conflict led to further division of the Palestinian territories, thus a creation of the intercity “Borders”. These “Borders” were physical boundaries even within cities that separated lands between the Palestinian and Israeli parties. However, these boundaries also became environmental, because the Israeli Government particularly chose the lands that are the most fertile, full of natural resources and that had access to underground water to be under their control. One would see different agricultural and irrigational methods on sides of the borders because each side Is owned by a different entity disregarding of the proximity of lands. One of the main issues that have risen from the land separation is the conflict of natural gas. Unlike other natural resources, natural gas cannot possibly co-exist with or follow the political borders because it naturally accumulates and spreads. Also, they are non-renewable resources and thus would be reduced for further generations when consumed. All these facts did not prevent the Israeli government from harvesting the gas from its sources even if they existed below Palestinian territories, and this led to an exploitation that put the Palestinian economy at a disadvantage, thus even hindering its development.

Another natural resource exploitation that was caused by unjust distribution of land and creation of borders is water. Due to the creation of the “Israeli settlements” that currently exist on the peripheries of most of the Palestinian cities and villages, the Israeli government has been supplying their settlements with water that exists in the Palestinian lands, thus creating an unequal distribution shown in the graph below.

FARAH AHMED,57859

CRITICAL READING RESPONSE

To conclude, I would like to refer back to Alan Mikhail’s statement on how the Middle Eastern component of global history is under searched. I do find truth in that statement, however what could possibly be the main reason for this lack of research and sources? Could it also connect to political issues of colonization, or the literary accounts of orientalism and their lack of legitimacy?

American University of Sharjah Arc 581: Critical Practice and Contemporary Discourse Critical Reading Response on Janet Abu Lughod

What would both Abu-Lughod and Mitchell agree on is the fact that an Orientalist history is what one might call a “history of observation” where Western historians are merely an audience to the play of events. What also comes to matter is the issue of the observer’s proximity to the events in space and time, the lack of physical and intellectual engagement has caused the Orientalists to fail in translating the reality of events. And we see this apparent in the Orientalists texts that Abu-Lughod mentioned, as they have described Arabo-Islamic cities through an observant rather than an analytical eye which put them in the trap of having generalized trivial views of the urban condition of these cities.

One common inference between these Orientalist texts is the view of the pre-Islamic state of urbanism as a state of nothingness. What is not pressed on much in both the Orientalists and Abu-Lughod’s texts is how extensive were the effects of Arabia on Islam instead of vice-versa. One must not ignore the fact that Islam-without disregarding its novelty- called for a rectification of the pre-existing conditions, and those conditions influenced many of its teachings. Thus, the descriptions of an “Islamic city” seem to assume that Islam was the creator of the state of urbanism in the MENA region rather than understanding that it progressed through a series of transformations. Since it is established that there was a society before Islam which functioned on a hierarchical, top-to-bottom power dynamic, then it is safe to assume that there was a level of municipal governance that does not have to be necessarily classified through the western terms of urbanization. The pre-Islamic Arab cities had their own set of civic rules that helped create order and discipline.

It is also evident in Timothy’s text that the West claims that the Non-west has inherited modernity from the western image of progress. However, Timothy argues how this image was distorted by colonialism. As Stefania Pandolfo wrote: “…the colonized mind was unable to produce abstract representations…”, she agreed with many western thinkers who viewed Eastern modernity as a mimic of western progress. As oppressive as this statement might seem, one might not be able to deny the parts of truth that linger on to it. However, one can establish that this mimicking might not have been a conscious personal choice of the folk, rather than a result of a continuous conditioning of the colonized society to absorb the imperialist’s agenda of “Might is Right”. The colonized society has been persuaded to believe that successful contemporality is only achieved through a subsequence of western progress.

In addition, it is evident that some Arab nationalists, such as Georges Tarabichi, confirm on the prevalence of the so-called “blind imitation” by castigating the post-colonial MENA society due to what they describe as unthoughtful rejection of local customs and religion. Meanwhile other Arab intellectuals like Constantin Zurayk were more concerned with the effects of the dominating modernity on the unity of society regardless of religion. Nonetheless, the situation evolves into a state of dual oppression where the post-colonized society is oppressed and criticized from within and outside.

American University of Sharjah Arc 581: Critical Practice and Contemporary Discourse Critical Reading Response on Dipesh Chakrabarty

It is established that there is a global idea on a climate crisis that is acknowledged by many scientific and “political” parties. Dipesh Chakrabarty critiques both the philosophical and the conceptual ideologies of Historicism and renders them as problematic time frames.

He also builds an intersection between postcolonial thought and Subaltern studies.

However, the question is, how valid are subaltern studies?

Post colonialism and subaltern studies are often criticized for their oversight of class formation and class struggle that have existed before colonialism. Subaltern studies have undeniably viewed the subaltern as an oppressed entity, but what is obscured in that thought is the fact that some-if not most of the oppressed subalterns-have emerged due to class exploitation.

What would bring the post-colonial and the western historicist views together on the climate crisis is that they both abide by the same problem that David Archer questioned.

One could almost assume that all issues of misunderstanding history and climate change can boil down to these two questions: why should contemporary humans care about future humans? And how valid is our understanding of climate if our history can only extend to human records? Now it is hard to find answers to such questions and mainly to the idea that humans are of limited knowledge and capabilities. One other addition to these questions is that they come from a scientific view of the world that most religious entities would disagree with.

When it comes to how different people of different backgrounds react to the climate crisis, it spreads to ethics and choice of behaviour. One might look at the crisis from a view that is more connected to the Anthropocene where they see themselves as an active participant in the climate change, whilst the others might be more dismissive of their participation and see the crisis as something inevitable. What both views have in common is the fact that they still view “Earth” or the environmental surroundings as non-living and they separate it from the human entity as Chakrabarty mentioned. It might be easy to see the Geo-forces as a non-living object, but the problem lies in how humans somewhat disregard other living beings on the planet when they view it in such a way. Humans tend to immensely separate themselves from animals and other living creatures because they often see them as a part of the “non-living environmental surroundings” which widens the gap between humans and the earth. The first step towards discriminating against or neglecting something is to “dehumanize” it, and this could probably explain why such a gap exists.

To conclude, it is undeniable that humans as a specie are dominant, and they play and expansive role in climate change. As Chakrabarty also mentioned, the “survival of species” is in question, and that all political thought should register to that change. But after all, one could ask a question, whose interest does it really serve to register to such change?

American University of Sharjah Arc 581: Critical Practice and Contemporary Discourse Critical Reading Response on Diana Davis

Ingrained in inaccurate orientalist portrayals of the MENA regions is the frequent assumption that the environment of these lands has been taken along the deathly routes of desertification and deforestation due to misuse by the native people. In her text, Diane Davis Illustrates on how these portrayals are environmental imaginaries, as they are constructed sets of beliefs about a certain environment’s formation. Davis, along with other contributors, continue to exemplify how contemporary ecological data erodes the base of these orientalist imperialist imaginaries.

The text uncovers many of the suspicious and problematic practices and policies that emerged of these environmental imaginaries and how they have been utilized against lands and people in the region since and during colonialism. In many examples, those imaginaries have assisted people in power in their assertion on environmental production and technological use. There is an evident tension within the examples presented on the meaning of “environmental imaginary”. Davis’s introduction suggests one interpretation: an “environmental imaginary is the constellation of ideas that groups of humans develop about a given landscape, usually local or regional, that commonly include assessments about that environment as well as how it came to be in its current state” ,which concludes that such ideas about nature are genuinely held by certain groups of people. However, other examples or contributors suggest that “environmental imaginaries” are intentionally fabricated for the purpose of satisfying specific political or economic objectives.

The two versions complement each other well, however the question is, when are imaginaries ecologically viable? do people ever hold a genuine data-based imaginary? Of course, the term has the word “imaginary” which would always give us an impression of unreliability. Nonetheless, the important thing is to question authoritative anecdotes and use a corrective method to try and minimize the drastic effect these imaginaries had and still have on real people’s daily lives and livelihoods in the MENA region specifically.

American University of Sharjah Arc 581: Critical Practice and Contemporary Discourse Critical Reading Response on Gwendolyn Wright

Farah Ahmed, 57859

Critical Reading Response

As Gwendolyn Wright concluded in his text, some colonized territories were seen as "laboratories", where the colonising power used lands to carry out experimentations of built environments that somewhat seemed to be impermissible due to their cultural and contextual insensitivity. The colonialists were searching for a universal procedure of architecture and urban design, where they sought an idea of an effective, efficient built substance that could be placed anywhere disregarding of context. One would view these built elements as “alien” to the site due to their antagonistic relationship with their surroundings, however, the colonialists argued that by making these alien elements “universal” they will no longer be viewed as “alien”. One could relate these assumptions to the “International Style”, the functionalist modernistic style that emerged after world war I. Both the colonialist view and the International Style view architecture as an assertive power, whether it is intentional or not, the dominance of this power makes the so-called “universal” architecture dictate its surroundings, rather than an architecture which co-exists and interacts with the context.

The search of the “universal style” that has many Eurocentric and anthropocentric connotations under its name, could be traced back in history. Since the 18th C.. architects have tried to explain progression and transitions in architecture through written form. Abe Laugier’s analysis of the “Primitive Hut”, or as he describes, tree trunks and branches that form a post and lintel, are the archetypes of classical column and pediment which in turn as he claims are the universal basis of architecture. To assume that the exclusively European architectural elements can be equated to a universal archetype is a Eurocentric manifestation.

The problematic tension in the colonialist and Eurocentric discourse is the dual characterization of what “primitive” is. In Abe Laugier’s discussion, the primitive is seen as an attractive state, as a noble truthful natural condition, it is something that needs protection, because there is a fear of the truth being lost. However, in the colonialist perspective, as Graham Huggan and Helen Tiffen mentioned, “primitive” is conceived as a more repulsive violent threatening state that needs protection against. So, to put into a mis-constructed perspective, the idea of a European “primitive” state is the attractive vision because it is more truthful and rational, meanwhile the nonEuropean “primitive” or “indigenous” state is the irrational and fearsome.