Unnamed modernisms : national ideologies and historical imaginaries in Beirut's urban architecture

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2005.

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Yahya, Maha
Other Authors: Mark Jarzombek and Philip Khoury.
Format: Thesis
Language:eng
Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2008
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/33453
http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/33453
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author Yahya, Maha
author2 Mark Jarzombek and Philip Khoury.
author_facet Mark Jarzombek and Philip Khoury.
Yahya, Maha
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description Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2005.
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spelling mit-1721.1/334532019-04-10T14:54:58Z Unnamed modernisms : national ideologies and historical imaginaries in Beirut's urban architecture National ideologies and historical imaginaries in Beirut's urban architecture Yahya, Maha Mark Jarzombek and Philip Khoury. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture. Architecture. Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2005. Includes bibliographical references (v. 2, leaves 446-469). Since the commencement of post-war reconstruction in 1991, Beirut has been radically transformed through a series of large development projects that seek to reconcile the war induced fragmentation of both city and national identity whilst reclaiming its "historic" position as one of a global network of cities. These changes are grounded in a series of historiographic approaches to memory, architecture, and urbanism. This dissertation argues that a critical approach to the city in this context has to come to terms with the omissions that constitute its history and the ambiguities of its multiple political locations. It contends that these ambiguities are grounded in two specific events unleashed by the historic transition of Beirut from a thriving cosmopolitan port city and capital of an Ottoman province carrying its own name and spanning over a vast territory into the capital of a smaller new nation state under French mandate (1888-1943). The first is the ambivalence that characterized the projection and formation of national identity under mandate (as opposed to colonial) rule and the second is the superimposition of a capital city on the site of a cosmopolitan port city during this same period. (cont.) This overlap between the messy cosmopolitanism of the port city, with its own antithesis, the universalism associated with modernism in the capital city generated a condition of architectural and urban impossibility that continues to haunt its making. ased on a diverse body of primary imperial, colonial and local archival research, 19th and 20th century literature and memoirs, travelogues and visual material such as photographs, post cards and maps, as well as the insights of recent work on orientalism, colonialism, nationalism this study offers the first critical examination of the connections between political change and modern architectural-urban production in Beirut. by Maha Yahya. Ph.D. 2008-02-12T16:48:40Z 2008-02-12T16:48:40Z 2005 2005 Thesis http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/33453 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/33453 62948207 eng M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/33453 http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 2 v. (469 leaves) application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology
spellingShingle Architecture.
Yahya, Maha
Unnamed modernisms : national ideologies and historical imaginaries in Beirut's urban architecture
title Unnamed modernisms : national ideologies and historical imaginaries in Beirut's urban architecture
title_full Unnamed modernisms : national ideologies and historical imaginaries in Beirut's urban architecture
title_fullStr Unnamed modernisms : national ideologies and historical imaginaries in Beirut's urban architecture
title_full_unstemmed Unnamed modernisms : national ideologies and historical imaginaries in Beirut's urban architecture
title_short Unnamed modernisms : national ideologies and historical imaginaries in Beirut's urban architecture
title_sort unnamed modernisms national ideologies and historical imaginaries in beirut s urban architecture
topic Architecture.
url http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/33453
http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/33453
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