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Re-interpreting the socio-spatial aspects of urbanism in East Africa
| Citace: |
BAUMANOVÁ, M. Re-interpreting the socio-spatial aspects of urbanism in East Africa. Praha, Czech Republic, 2022.World Archaeological Congress
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| Druh: | PŘEDNÁŠKA, POSTER |
| Jazyk publikace: | eng |
| Anglický název: | Re-interpreting the socio-spatial aspects of urbanism in East Africa |
| Rok vydání: | 2022 |
| Místo konání: | Praha, Czech Republic |
| Autoři: | Monika Baumanová M.A., Ph.D. |
| Abstrakt EN: | Abstract: The history of research on African urbanism was long affected by colonial political agendas as well as stereotypes based on influential urban case studies in Europe and the Near East. In the recent decades, urban architectural heritage has been gradually reinterpreted, setting right the imposed colonial theories promoting external origins and drivers of urban complexities in Africa. However, interpretations derived from ethnographies, ethnoarchaeology and historical accounts that inevitably reflected the perspectives of external observers and cultures, remain as influential as their validity is difficult to assess. The organisation of urban space preserved on archaeological sites or as part of living historical towns represents unique datasets, which allow in-depth studies of the constructed material environment incorporating universal principles of human perception. Archaeological perspectives informed by urban studies may shed a new light on the connotations of building placement, or the distribution of public buildings and open spaces. This may enhance our understanding of how space may have played a part in defining urban societies, and to some extent counterbalance the interpretations based on written and ethnographic accounts conducted in colonial context. In this paper, I focus on (pre)colonial case studies in terms of composition and structure of urban layouts, highlighting the role of urban public space on the East African coast. In order to understand how colonialism altered the urban concept on the Swahili coast and to disentangle the underlying social connotations of present-day urbanism, I discuss how archaeologists may explore various aspects of social space and its long-term transformations. |
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