Monuments hold space for narratives of the pasts by distilling into their structures memories of the collective. The power they carry in spatial and temporal dimensions sets the tone of history between ancestry and posterity, and the balance between heritage and evolution. In this course, we explore not only the physical traits and histories that render monuments monumental but also how they are made - and unmade (Nelson and Olin (eds.) 2015)). We examine a select corpus of monuments and objects of monumentality forged in Asian history (beginning with recently reacclaimed Sanxingdui)with reference to critical theories of materiality and phenomenology that undergird recent debates in spatial and architectural studies in archaeology.
Depending on the course schedule, a number of class meetings could be integrated with a forthcoming virtual conference in June on “cosmopolitanism” in China and the Eurasian world that will expose students to a wider scope of materials and research trends.
- Trainer/in: Annie Chan