Postcolonial Space-Platform for Resisting Predisposed Architectural Discourses

Abstract

Study of space has unquestionably turned into an important research focus in humanities and social sciences. In earlier stages space was read as an empty abstraction without history and unable to possess or evince meaning. While on the other hand place was considered as a location with a name and an ability to corroborate significance. In the second half of the 20th century however study of the space has increasingly found a renaissance and with the result of this spatial renaissance space has emerged with greater prominence assigned by constructive terminology with the opportunity of resistance and suggestive of new possibilities and interpretations. Especially, the depiction of space in postcolonial literature added much complexity to it as postcolonial space is inscribed by differential identities that challenge perpetual (Continuous) and formalist (Framed rules) modes of narratives created by the architectural constructionists. Identity created in such a space quite often portrays the indigenous citizen as an absolute space also, because authentic and essentialist conceptions of identity are often associated with exclusivist claims to territory and space.
Keywords: Space; Postcolonial Space; Renaissance; Identity; Resistance