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Physical Space and Spatiality in Muslim Societies: Notes on the Social Production of Cities
Mahbub Rashid
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Mahbub Rashid embarks on a fascinating journey through urban space in all of its physical and social aspects, using the theories of Foucault, Bourdieu, Lefebvre, and others to explore how consumer capitalism, colonialism, and power disparity consciously shape cities. Using two Muslim cities as case studies, Algiers (Ottoman/French) and Zanzibar (Ottoman/British), Rashid shows how Western perceptions can only view Muslim cities through the lens of colonization—a lens that distorts both physical and social space. Is it possible, he asks, to find a useable urban past in a timeline broken by colonization? He concludes that political economy may be less relevant in premodern cities, that local variation is central to the understanding of power, that cities engage more actively in social reproduction than in production, that the manipulation of space is the exercise of power, that all urban space is a conscious construct and is therefore not inevitable, and that consumer capitalism is taking over everyday life. Ultimately, we reconstruct a present from a fragmented past through local struggles against the homogenizing power of abstract space.
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Contents
Figures
Introduction
Part I: On Physical Space and Spatiality
Chapter 1. A Brief Intellectual History of Physical Space
Chapter 2. Describing Physical Space and Spatiality in Cities
Chapter 3. Theorizing the Social Production of Physical Space and Spatiality in Cities
Chapter 4. Approaches to Study the Social Production of Physical Space and Spatiality in Cities
Part II: On Physical Space and Spatiality in Traditional Muslim Societies
Chapter 5. Physical Space and Spatiality in Traditional Muslim Societies
Chapter 6. Physical Space and Spatiality in Ottoman Algiers
Chapter 7. Physical Space and Spatiality in Omani Zanzibar
Figure 6.16. The diagram illustrates the main transformations of Ottoman Algiers and the urban expansion of Algiers by the end of the nineteenth century: (1) The creation of a place of arms (renamed Place du Gouvernement then Place des Martyrs after independence) in the center of the lower part of the casbah; (2) the widening of Bab Azoun, Bab el Oued; (3) the Navy (present-day rue d’El Mourabitine); (4) the Chartres (present-day Amar El Kama Street) streets; (5) the Rue de la Lyre (now rue Bouzrina Arezki); (6) the Boulevard de l’Empress (currently Boulevard Ernesto Che Guevara); (7) the Rue del la Marine; (8) the Rues Randon and Marengo; (9) the Boulevard de la Victoire; (10) the replacement of the old Ottoman walls with new boulevards; and (11) the construction of the French wall defining the new intramural city. (Created by the Author based on A. Hadjilah, “L’architecture des premières maisons européennes d’Alger, 1830–1865.” Artl@s Bulletin 5, no. 1 (2016): Article 2, Figure 3; and Z. Çelik, Urban Forms and Colonial Confrontations: Algiers Under French Rule, fig. 17. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997.)
Figure 6.17. The diagram shows the changes made to the streets of Ottoman Algiers by the French during the nineteenth century. The streets shown in solid lines are the old Ottoman streets, and those shown in dotted lines were taken out by the French. As a result, three different street morphologies can be observed in the old city: (1) an area with almost no morphological change; (2) an area with moderate morphological change; and (3) an area that does not preserve the old street morphology. (Created by the author.)
Figure 6.18. Representative samples of street system and building fabric from (a) the upper part, (b) the middle part, and (c) the lower part (or, the Marine Quarter) of Ottoman Algiers in the colonial phase. (Created by the author.)
Figure 6.19. The axial map (a) and the segment map (b) of the Ottoman part of Algiers in 1881 after several colonial changes, colored using the choice value of each line. In these renderings, the color ranges from red representing higher values to blue representing lower values. The lines/segments with the highest choice values have now changed locations, destroying the old social logic of Ottoman Algiers. (Created by the author.)
Figure 6.20. The axial map (a) and the segment map (b) of the Ottoman part of Algiers in 1881 after several colonial changes, colored using the integration value of each line. In these renderings, the color ranges from red representing higher values to blue representing lower values. The lines/segments with the highest integration values have now changed locations, destroying the old social logic of Ottoman Algiers. (Created by the author.)
Figure 6.21. The axial map (a) and the segment map (b) of Algiers in 1881, colored using the choice value of each line. In these renderings, the color ranges from red representing higher values to blue representing lower values. (Created by the author.)
Figure 6.22. The axial map (a) and the segment map (b) of Algiers in 1881, colored using the integration value of each line. In these renderings, the color ranges from red representing higher values to blue representing lower values. (Created by the author.)
Figure 7.1. Zanzibar Town, 1846. The map shows a narrow strip of land on the south that was the only connection across a creek that separated the town from the main island on the east. The first half of the nineteenth century was a period of rapid growth for Zanzibar. This map is the earliest detailed record of the town to survive. It shows a central area of stone houses surrounded by mud and thatch houses, which covered most of the peninsula and spread across the creek at Darajani, the narrowest crossing point. Though mud huts might have dominated the edges of the town as shown in this map, they were also located within stone houses all over the town. (Source: Map of Zanzibar, 1846 [Plan de Zanzibar, 1846]. Erhard Schieblé; Kœppelin, printing; Arthus Bertrand, editor. In “Voyage à lacôte orientale d’Afrique,” surveyed and written by Ch. Guillain, folio-atlas, plate 9, 1856–1857.)
Figure 7.2. A contemporary map of Zanzibar Stone Town showing buildings by ethnic origin. Even though Indian buildings are generally located along commercial streets and Arab buildings are generally located along the seafront and in the southwest corner of the map, we see no clear ethnic separation in this town. Due to rapid urban growth and changing political economy, the ethnic geography of Omani Zanzibar might have been even more complicated than what is indicated on this map. (Created by the author.)
Figure 7.3. The life of the sultan and the elite in Omani Zanzibar. (a) The sultan arrives at Zanzibar. (Source: https://www.zanzibarhistory.org). (b) The horse guards and state carriage of the sultan of Zanzibar. (Source: https://www.omanisilver.com). (c) Leading Arabs in ceremonial costume. (Source: https://www.zanzibarhistory.org). (d) Arab ladies in Zanzibar. Though absent in public spaces, Arab women had an indelible impact on the residential spaces of the city (Source: The Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution.)
Figure 7.4. Everyday urban flows in and out of Omani Zanzibar. (a) Crossing the creek by the bridge at the northern end of the town, people from the shamba (countryside) are carrying produce to the market. (Source: www.zanzibarhistory.org.) (b) People crossing the creek by boats (Source: www.zanzibarhistory.org.) (c) Road through Mmazi Mmoya, in the southern end of Zanzibar Stone Town. Photo by J. Sturtz. (Source: The Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies Winterton Collection, Northwestern University.) (d) Landing place of Zanzibar harbor. Photo by J. Sturtz. (Source: http://www.omanisilver.com.)
Figure 7.5. Economic activities in Omani Zanzibar. (a) Zanzibar’s clove trade scene. (Source: www.zanzibarhistory.org.) (b) Slaves for trade. Photo by J. Sturtz. (Source: The Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies Winterton Collection, Northwestern University.) (c) Crowd at the Soko Kuu (Great Market), Forodhani, with the fort in the background. Photo by J. Sturtz. (Source: www.zanzibarhistory.org.) (d) Fish Market Street or Soko Mohogo in Zanzibar Stone Town. (Source: The Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies Winterton Collection, Northwestern University.)
Figure 7.7. Palaces and courts in Omani Zanzibar. (a) View from the sea of Palace Square and Harem. (b) Beit al Sahel and Harem on the left; Beit al Hukm in the middle; and the clock tower and Beit al-Ajaib on the right. (c) Beit al-Ajaib with the clock tower. (d) Palace square with Beit al-Hukm. Photo by J. Sturtz. (Source: The Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies Winterton Collection, Northwestern University.)
Figure 7.8. Boat-Cistern, built alongside of the Beit al-Sahel, in Zanzibar Stone Town. (Source: The Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies Winterton Collection, Northwestern University.)
Figure 7.9. Map of Zanzibar drawn by the Survey of India in 1892 under the direction of Consul General Gerald Portal. The map is the first to accurately show the street pattern and indicate all the names of the different mitaa of the town. To the north, the Darajani Bridge was still the main route out of the town. A road along the neck of land called Mnazi Mmoja provides a new route out of town to the south. In addition, there was a canoe ferry service that crossed to the main island from Mkunazini, and a low-tide track which traversed the creek at its southern end. (Source: Author)
Figure 7.10. Map of Zanzibar City, drawn by Baumann, 1896, based on the 1892 survey. (Source: Oscar Baumann, Die lnsel Sansibar und Ihre Kleineren Nachbarinseln. Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, 1897.]
Figure 7.11. A contemporary map of Zanzibar Stone Town showing building use patterns. With public/cultural buildings along seaside streets, commercial buildings along interior streets that run from the west side to the east side, and religious buildings distributed in various parts of the Town, the map shows a complicated land use pattern in Omani Zanzibar. (Created by the author.)
Figure 7.12. The plan and figure-ground drawings of two different areas in Zanzibar Stone Town showing unplanned land plotting patterns within irregular urban blocks defined by narrow and winding streets. (Created by the author from Colonial Street Map of Stone Town, 1924, Mkunazini. Zanzibar: Ministry of Water, Construction, Energy, Lands, and Environment, 1924; and Aga Khan Trust for Culture, Zanzibar: A Plan for the Historic Stone Town, Geneva: Aga Khan Trust for Culture, 1996.)
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