Harappan urbanites: Standardization, ratios and subjectivity

Summary

Hallmarks of the third millennium BCE Harappan civilization include baked bricks, weights and measures, and water wells, which index centralized control, civic management and urban planning. In this study, I aim to locate the Harappan in a Harappan urban environment. I will consider the ways in which the use of space, design, and architecture may inform the constructions of self. Furthermore, I will interrogate the ancient urban form by considering ratios and standardization as a means to construct an ideal ancient urban subject. The co production of politics and technology in relation to the construction of self will be of central concern. These urban subjectivities should not be read as passive constructions of the self, rather as active decisions to maintain a cosmopolitan and urban sensibility. Through an investigation of how the self may be constructed, and the ideals linked to that self that are being encouraged by the production of space, questions related to Harappan political structures will be addressed.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• The Technopolitics of Ancient Infrastructures

Keywords

Spatial Coverage