Dissertation Medal Winner 1999
Megha Chands Dissertation Synopsis goes here
The work of Charles Correa, and, as the title implies, his frameworks of meaning, are the focus of this work. But it is evident from the outset that the real interest of the piece lies in large questions of Indian culture, as it might be understood in the contemporary world. Rather than utilising readymade concepts such as 'critical regionalism', representational iconography, or established ideas on the condition of colonial cultures, Megha Chand effectively invents in this dissertation her own method and ideology to interrogate the condition of modern Indian culture.However ambitious this might appear, she deals with such complex and difficult issues in a refreshing and original way. Starting with the explicitly personal- expressed with passion and commitment- her work is informed by a critical reading of highly appropriate selected sources which help to articulate a rigorous position of her own. Its discourse exposes the glib and the facile, the generalisation or the idea too easily supported by simple argument in favour of a location in the interstitial, on the spaces between the more obvious and rational points of view. That Correa should come out of this tough analysis rather the worse for wear is perhaps inevitable: but I feel that his position is articulated sufficiently fully for the reader to make up their own mind on this persuasive and passionate piece of work.