Transdisciplinary Design

The gap of Modernity

Posted on November 16, 2019

Modernity is always a fascinating word for me. I have always had trouble explaining what is modern for me, Is it the new or novel or digging of the old?
Later last week we were discussing in class about de-colonization in public spaces and how by reshaping public statues, would help new york acknowledge the past, while in midst of the discussion I got questioned by a girl whether modernity or progress in my home country India would ever have occurred without colonization? and that instead of wasting our time rebuilding the old if we solve the modern problems through technology we would make progress. I smiled saying, what makes you think India was not modern before? and that technology is the answer to everything? The girl gave a Glomar response[1] shrugging her head sideways and moving on to the next slide she was presenting.

Her statement discomforted me in my body, but I thought of it more rather than responding to her. “modernity” linked to one’s idea of technological progress and growth can be very different for different people.

Ahmed Ansari quoted on a roundtable on decolonizing design on how“colonialism and modernity mean different things to different peoples and cultures, and therefore lead to different questions, concerns, and politics. [2]

Photo credit: Arjun Singh, Udaipur India.

This reminds me of an instance last year when I was part of research facilitating group discussions with women from villages where our system was piloted. These informal sessions were around their experiences with technology (voice calls, wearable pendant, and app they would see the health worker use on the camp) beyond our Nonprofit what were their thoughts on the environment around them.
Apart from their feedback on our technology few women highlighted how modernity, meant a better future for their kids. Recalling how things are changing, “One day you do not have access to the outside world and the next day you have a phone and can call anyone”. Some agreed they were “becoming modern”.
While some did not feel the need to embrace technology as a means to be modern. “Just by bringing in a foreign object one does not become modern”Modernity for me Pepu Kuwar said, “was trying fit that foreign object(feature phone) into my world.” To me, modernity is in relooking at my traditions and how can I apply to this piece of technology. She embraced this by changing the ringtone to a local song. Everyone laughed as she played this song on her phone.
As I distinctly remember Pepu pointed out, “we are becoming modern but the modernness is not invented within is my culture.” The modernness is imported from outside the cities who import it from a foreign land. She highlights to me the gap between embracing technology which seems foreign to what could be more relatable to her.

Picture credit: Arjun Singh, Udaipur India.

Satish Deshpande in his book contemporary India points out, ‘ the Indians want to be traditional, but not ‘ too modern ‘ or ‘ just modern. ‘ In the Indian social context, therefore, the emergence of modernity is both confusing and daunting at the same time.[3]

In India, neither modernity nor tradition is strong enough to completely erase the other. Thus a distinct relationship is formed.[4]

Decoloniality does highlight that nothing is the same. So if we apply this thought to the concept of modernity, Then everything is modern today. Modernity depends on cultural context and relationships on traditional-modern axes.[5] Thus there needs to be a reexamination of what we term as global modern.

I don’t feel at peace of not having to answer the girl from another class about how modernity would have been achieved or not achieved by the colonial rule in India. I don’t know that yet, but I do know that this concept of modernity is not a fixed persona and has shadows of coloniality and we need to work our ways to expand the notion of modernity altogether.

Is Decolonizing the term “modernity” the answer?

 

-VS (Khyali Pulao)

 

 

 

References

[1]Forensic Architecture: Eyal Weizman

[2]What Is at Stake with Decolonizing Design? A Roundtable: Tristan Schultz, Danah Abdulla, Ahmed Ansari, Ece Canlı, Mahmoud

[3][4]Keshavarz, Matthew Kiem, Luiza Prado de O. Martins & Pedro J.S. Vieira de Oliveira (2018)

link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/17547075.2018.1434368

[5]Contemporary India : (a sociological view) Satish Despande

“Crash Course Big History #8: The Modern Revolution.” YouTube Video. YouTube, September 24, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYS3-ShEnbs.

Hajira. “Decolonizing Design.” Medium. Spring 2018 Independent Studies, January 23, 2018. https://medium.com/spring-2018-independent-studies/decolonizing-design-db1f9a65486.