IDENTITY + PLACE MEANINGS

Identity and Place Meanings

Architecture is a rich material expression of political power. It can not only host explicit symbolic references but can be indicative of more implicit politics through its ties to state funding, shifts in economic industries, erasure of existing property, and exclusion of certain societal groups through programming. Thus, in relation to state-led construction, examining political rhetoric in architecture can provide great insight into the objectives of governments as they relate to state, sub-state, and international politics, particularly at times of political transition. Architecture is also capable of encompassing the everyday narratives of a population itself, a process that complicates and adds nuance to those narratives first formulated by the commissioning client. This domain of understanding meaning in architecture represents a crucial area of research, as core questions related to collective identity are ultimately as fundamental to successful urban development as security and economic structures. Indeed, misguided development policies could lead to the counterproductive deterioration of both national security and economic prosperity. Foregrounding developments in Eurasia, this work delves into issues of identity and place meanings.

Our work on identity and place meanings can be found at:

COURSES

Cities as Sites of Memory: Post-Socialist Place Meaning and Contested History (Undergraduate)

Instructors: S. Harris-Brandts & D. Sichinava

School: International Black Sea University (IBSU), Spring 2020

This course examines how cities perform as sites of collective memory and identity, focusing on city development in former socialist countries. Memory and place meanings are approached in an interdisciplinary manner that draws from Architecture, Urban Planning, Geography, Political Science, Sociology, and Philosophy. Classes offer students a broad theoretical and methodological framing of memory in cities, as well as key examples from case studies. The course emphasizes: the tensions between new urban development and heritage in cities; the politics of memory and power struggles for place meanings; the subjective nature of experience in cities and how places can carry multiple histories; and the ways in which different actors work together to define memory and place meanings.

PUBLICATIONS

Harris-Brandts, S., & Sichinava, D. [forthcoming] The Architecture of a ‘Friendship Among Nations’ : Soft Power and the Evolving Design Narratives in Tbilisi’s Institute Marx, Engels, and Lenin Building.

Harris-Brandts, S., & Sichinava, D. (forthcoming). The Politics of Urban Recovery in a Stalinist-era Resort Town: Heritage Tourism and Displaced Communities in Tskaltubo, Georgia. In Al-Harithy, H. (Ed.), Urban Recovery at the Intersection of Displacement and Reconstruction. Routledge.

Harris-Brandts, S. (2020). [Book Review] Iconic Planned Communities and the Challenge of Change. Corbin Sies, M., Gournay, I, and Freestone, R. (Eds.). University of Pennsylvania Press. Journal of Historical Geography.

Harris-Brandts, S. (2018). The Role of Architecture in the Republic of Georgia’s European Aspirations. Nationalities Papers. 46 (6), Taylor & Francis, 1118-1135.

Harris-Brandts, S. (2017). ‘Europe Started Here’: Nation Building and Myth Production in the Republic of Georgia, Thresholds Journal. 45, MIT Press, 124-135.

Harris-Brandts, S. (2016). Decentralize, Desecularize, and Deregulate! The transformation of Kutaisi, Georgia. In MONU Journal , 25 Independent Urbanism, 86-91. Bruil & van de Staaij.

Harris-Brandts, S. (2017). Georgia and the South Caucasus. In S. Piesik (Ed.), HABITAT: Vernacular Architecture for a Changing Planet. London, UK: Thames & Hudson.

PRESENTATIONS

2020 - Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) Annual Convention Washington, D.C., USA; November 2020 “Urban Ingenuity in Late-Communist and Post-Communist "Dystopias." Paper: Soviet Paradise Lost? Decline, Renewal, and Fetishized Imaginaries of Tskaltubo, Georgia. Harris-Brandts, S., & Sichinava, D.

2019 - 19th Annual Aleksanteri Conference: Technology, Culture, and Society in Eurasian Space Helsinki, Finland; October 2019 “Projecting the Future: Novel Technologies of Spectacle in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan” University of Helsinki. Gogishvili, D. & Harris-Brandts, S.

2018 - Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) Annual Convention Boston, MA, USA; December 2018 *Session Co-Organizers “Nostalgia and Urban Change: The Roles of Selective Remembering and Forgetting in Transforming Post-Socialist Cities.” Harris-Brandts, S., & Sichinava, D.

2017 - American Association of Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting Boston, MA, USA; April 2017 “The Role of Architecture in Post-Soviet Georgia’s European As pirations.” Harris-Brandts, S.