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Adjacency of the other : an examination of the impact of alterity on the production of built form during the Mamlūk Sultanate

University of British Columbia

The purpose of this study is to understand the spatial consequences of Mamlūk social identity and rule on urban architectural form in al-Qāhirah, or Cairo, during the Mamlūk Sultanate (1250–1517 CE / 648–923 AH); specifically the early Bahri period from 1250 to 1382 CE (648–784 AH). Particular examination will be made of the quality of Otherness inherent to the Mamlūk identity. The intent being to interpret how this quality is reflected in Mamlūk aspirations, motivations, and influences and how those were translated to and imbued within the architecture they patronized. It is the premise of this work that the differences between the Mamlūks and the culture at large that ‘produced’ them are linked immanently—either directly or causally—to their production and patronage of architecture during the Bahri dynasty. The supposition being that there are significant and demonstrable manifestations of this identity within the built culture of the Sultanate. The stated interest is not solely in the spatial or decorative consequences—architectural products—of Otherness but also its influence on the process of ‘becoming’ for that built form. That process being the means by which that social identity contributed to or promoted the proliferation of architecture and the thriving urban fabric of al-Qāhirah. This thesis will pay particular attention to the Bahri Sultans al-Zahir Rukn-al-Din Baybars al-Bunduqdari, al-Mansur Sayf-al-Din Qala’un, and al-Nasir Nasir-al-Din Muhammad and their roles as architectural patrons. Understanding of such Otherness will be achieved through examination using the lens of theoretical discourse specific to the spatial and Other. In so doing the intent is to create active discourse specific to such contradictory and multilayered Otherness, which may be applied elsewhere.

Text

2015-04-28

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 Canada

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/52984

Architecture

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ca/