Design and modernity in Asia : national identity and transnational exchange 1945-1990

"Addressing histories of modernism, the discourse of modernity and modernisation processes in national and transnational contexts, this book examines different designs for and meanings of 'modern living' across 20th-century Asia. Design and Modernity in Asia contributes to the fast-growing body of literature on postcolonial modernism and non-Western global design history, with particular focus is on post-civil war and postcolonial years in Asia. The book develops methodological approaches to studying Asian modern design history and explores how marginalised individuals and groups encountered or experienced modernity. Most previous research on modernism and modernity in Asia has focused on certain geographical pockets and within particular national boundaries such as China, India and Japan. This book expands the discourse of modernism to include geographical areas or countries in Asia that have been under-explored in scholarly debates such as Bangladesh, Iran, Korea and Turkey. The newly unearthed histories complement and challenge the existing paradigm of modernism debates. Developed from extensive primary research and a great variety of case studies, each chapter in this book illuminates commonalities and particularities of the trajectories of modernism, and their translation and manifestation in Asian living"-- Provided by publisher Cover Contents List of illustrations List of contributors Foreword Gyan Prakash Acknowledgements Introduction: Approaching modern living in Asia, 1945–90 Megha Rajguru and Yunah Lee Part I Constructing National Identities and Modernizing Lives 1 ‘Japanese Modern’: A post-war Japonisme crusade Yasuko Suga 2 Modernizing Turkey through mid-century modern furniture Deniz Hasirci and Zeynep Tuna Ultav 3 A distanced modernism: Identity, unity and authoritarianism in academic campus residential architecture in East Pakistan 1958–71 Ziad Qureshi Part II Modernity and Public Spaces 4 Leisure for the modern citizen: Swimming in Singapore Jesse O’Neill and Nadia Wagner 5 Imagining cultural modernity in the global nation: South Korea and the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) Ilmin Nah 6 From hygienic modernity to green modernity: Two modes of modern living in Hong Kong since the 1970s Loretta I. T. Lou Part III Modern Living Discourses and Print Cultures 7 Concrete designs for living proposed by Marg magazine: The materiality and political economy of modernism in India in the early years after independence Suchitra Balasubrahmanyan 8 ‘To live or not to live, that is the question’: Spatial symbolism of apartments of the 1980s in Korean literature Jhee-Won Cha 9 Sweet treats and foreign foods: Hanako magazine, food and the internationalized women of the Japanese Bubble Economy Hui-Ying Kerr Part IV Transnational Exchanges: Design across Borders 10 The Cultural politics of the Cold War and living a shibui life Izumi Kuroishi 11 The modern kitchen in Korea: Design, modernity and transnationalism Yunah Lee 12 Locating modern living: Charles Correa, Asia and the Third World Megha Rajguru Index This new edited volume of critical essays examines designs for modern living in Asia between 1945 and 1990. Focusing particularly on the post-World War II and postcolonial years, this book advances multidisciplinary knowledge on approaches to and designs for modern living. Developed from extensive primary research and case studies, each essay illuminates commonalities and particularities of the trajectories of Modernism and notions of modernity, their translation and manifestation in life across Asia through design. Authors address everyday negotiations and experiences of being modern by studying exhibitions, architecture, modern interiors, printed ephemera, literary discourses, healthy living movements and transnational networks of modern designers. They examine processes of exchange between people, institutions and with governments, in and across Asia, as well as with the USA and countries in Western Europe. This book highlights the ways in which the production and discourses of modern design were underscored by economic advancement and modernization processes, and fuelled by aesthetic debates on modern design. Critically exploring design for modern living in Asia, this book offers fresh perspectives on Modernism to students and scholars.