Colonial heritage as bricolage
Interpreting the colonial built environment in Surabaya, Indonesia
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5835010 |
|---|---|
| Authors | F Colombijn (0000-0002-4815-8590, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 53 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 617-640 |
| Publication date | 2022-12-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Southeast Asian Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-4634 • E-ISSN: 1474-0680 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0022463422000807 |
| OpenAlex | W4319975861 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 1 |
One of the most visible and enduring vestiges of colonialism is its buildings. In this article I address the question of how current approving references to the colonial buildings in Indonesia should be explained, looking at one particular city, Surabaya. The cheerful, innovative adoption of colonial themes defies an analysis in terms of 'imperial debris'. I propose to borrow the term 'bricolage' from Claude Lévi-Strauss to describe this process in which people make new associations between selected colonial buildings and their own present lives. Bricolage is the selective conceptual appropriation of the colonial buildings for whatever objective the user finds convenient: objects to boost city marketing, a company advertisement, stops on a heritage tour, amusing backdrops for pictures and selfies, a counterpoint to a consumerist lifestyle in shopping malls. For colonial building enthusiasts, the love of colonial design and old urban quarters is more than a matter of the aesthetics of urban spaces, but also, indirectly, a critique of the transformation of modern cities by short-sighted real-estate developers and city administrators, who demolish irreplaceable buildings in acts of 'architectural suicide
Appropriation · Bricolage · Counterpoint · Asian Studies and History
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,67 |
| Citation span | 2023 - 2025 (3) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |