Gift, the: Spaces of Global Socialism and Their Afterlives

The gifting of architecture during the Cold War was a spectacular means for socialist countries to manifest a new vision of in- ternational relations for the decolonising world. Soviet, Eastern European, Chinese, and Cuban institutions donated factories, schools, hospitals, and housing to newly independent states in Africa and Asia, transforming cities and landscapes in Ethiopia, Ghana, Tanzania, Mongolia, Vietnam, and elsewhere. This book shows how the moral, temporal, and racial dynamics of gift-giving conditioned the design, construction, and afterlives of these buildings. It debates how the generosity and violence specific to gift exchange, and the social bonds that it creates, shaped and continue to shape everyday urbanism across Africa and Asia. By rereading these encounters, 'The Gift' offers a uniquely differentiated genealogy of global urbanisation and its architecture.
ISBN 9783986122461. JOVIS. pb. 288 pages. 188 colour ills. 24 x 17 cm.
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