Theorising the postcoloniality of contemporary architecture: a perspective from urban maritime Asia

Abstract

This paper concentrates on architectural epistemology, which has been dominated by Western intellectualism for a long time. Consequently, those “non-Western” built phenomena often occupy two positions in the global theoretical map. Whilst one is being subordinated in a Western-centric context, the other is being isolated from such a context. Both forms, however, display either the surfaced or twisted meaning of such a subject. Such innocence and misunderstanding, I argue, are imposed by a binary knowledge system rooted in the West. I intend to seek an alternative and adaptative way of achieving an understanding. The rising geopolitical significance of Asia and its role as the 2020 global pandemic’s origin draw attention to the region – not only empirically, but also theoretically. In this paper, I suggest to engage and problematise postcoloniality in contemporary architectural theory. I shall discuss a comparative analysis amongst architecture and urbanism strategically observed in Singapore and Taiwan with a critical literature review. I contend that a theorisation of the postcoloniality of architecture in urban maritime Asia suggests a new épistémè which, through a view from historical materialism, transcends the limitations noticed in current global scholarship of architectural theory.

Keywords

• asia
• architectural theory
• epistemology
• geopolitics
• postcoloniality