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Sites and Systems of Global Colonialism

Sites and Systems of Global Colonialism

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Lectures (12)

Lecture 1

Portuguese Goa: Evangelical Colonialism from Africa to Asia

Evangelical colonialisms are characterized by combining projects of religious conversion with the use of force to impose dominant trade relations. While religion played a more ...

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Lecture Notes
Lecture 2

Spanish Mexico: Evangelical Colonialism and the Encomienda System

Lecture 3

Spanish Peru: Evangelical Colonialism, the Laws of the Indies and the Extractive Economy

Lecture 4

Spanish Cartagena: Evangelical Colonialism and the Architecture of Fortification

Lecture 5

Dutch Batavia: Company Colonialism

Lecture 6

Dutch Amsterdam: Company Colonialism

Lecture 7

English Calcutta: Company Colonialism

Lecture 8

English London: Company Colonialism

Lecture 9

Ouro Preto and Rio De Janiero: The Triangle Trade and the Architectures of the Slave Economy

Lecture 10

Haiti and the French Revolution: The Triangle Trade and the Architectures of the Slave Economy

Lecture 11

Liverpool: The Triangle Trade and the Architectures of the Slave Economy

Lecture 12

Savannah: The Triangle Trade and the Architectures of the Slave Economy

The Overview

“Sites and Systems of Global Colonialism” is a survey course that introduces students to building cultures, landscapes and urbanisms in an already globally connected world from the colonial era through 1900. The course examines multiple overlapping systems by which the practices of human cultures have come to be interconnected around the world over time. It is a history of the world through architectural evidence, and a history of architecture through a global perspective.

The “Sites and Systems” approach is informed by systems theory perspectives arising from within the social sciences, especially sociology. It builds on and problematizes the international political-economy methods of World Systems Research and Braudelian approaches by examining specific selected cases grounded in actual cultural-spatial-material conditions. The complex and vital lenses of architectural analysis applied to sites, cities, and material systems, at scales ranging from tectonic details to global infrastructures of exchange, inform and contest our understandings of distributed networks.