The Loud Silence Harboured in the Roads on the East India Estate
following the instruction and requirement, let me know if you have more questions
hi please check the screenshot named "requirement", that's the topic for this essay. I will copy and paste it here again for ur convenience.
Other screenshots or documents or readings are used to help you do the essay and understand the topic, however, there needs some more research by yourself.
topic: "This week’s assignment is about unveiling the silences (and understanding how power operates) in historical sites, texts, objects, narratives, exhibitions and/or projects. You’re being asked to try to trace the systems of power that live in, survive and are sustained through one such object, perhaps by following some of the struggles that have given voice to that which is absent and have made those silences become very loud.
I want you to pick a physical site – a statue, a street name, an exhibition or object in a museum, a piece of infrastructure, a cultural site, a garden, a building, etc… It needs to be something you can visit and give tangible details about. Describe it as you see it, feel it and experience it (you could also draw it, take a picture and stick it in your field notebook), and then tell its story. Write about how power is narrated through this object (link to the historical person or event this object/site represents) and then start to unpack what is missing. What is explicitly silenced and why do you think that is the case? And maybe think about what has changed about the way this object fits into or challenges what we ‘know’ about history, about our city, even about ourselves. Remember to think and discuss why you picked this place, and even consider coming back to our earlier discussions about ghosts and hauntings…"
instructions: "based on the topic above, finish a reflexive piece that considers class discussions, readings and other materials and experiences that have been part of the course and learning thus far.
it should include excerpts from your field notes, focusing on a particular entry (although you can bring in thoughts/ideas from other weeks). These could include drawings, quotes, descriptions, things you imagined or engaged with. But it also then needs to consider materials beyond your own writing - (anything that helps you decipher your thinking about the particular topic). This means connecting your observations to your readings and other materials you have been thinking with, across the first half of the term (i.e. the additional readings from one or more of the weeks)."
THE LOUD SILENCE HARBOURED IN THE ROADS ON THE EAST INDIA ESTATE
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The City and State where it is located The Date The Loud Silence Harboured in the Roads on the East India Estate Power is perhaps the most desired, cherished, and pursued desire by human beings across history. Power does not only give an individual or a group of people the power to control others, but it also gives them the ability to write history. Quoting Frank Harte, “those in power write history, while those who suffer write songs.” Essentially, much of the modern world consumers’ history was written by those who held power in the past. History is written through monuments and statues (Smith, 1999). The two represent something we have chosen to take seriously as a people. They memorialize in a permanent form and say to the future, “this is what I want you to remember about my generation” (Gladwell (Host), 2019). However, since those in power are more likely to write history through monuments and statues, they describe history from their perspective and often, intentionally or unintentionally, tend to erase the history of the oppressed. Therefore, there is a need to understand how power can be traced through the way history is narrated and curated until it becomes accepted and known. At the same time, explore the silence articulated through this curation. If the size of a country determined how powerful the country is, then Britain would be ranked 80th in the world, surpassed even by some developing nations. However, the country ranks among the top five most powerful countries globally and influences socioeconomic, political, and cultural aspects in many countries, especially the Commonwealth nations. The Commonwealth is an umbrella consisting of member states that were once colonies of Britain. During the colonial period, starting with the discovery of the New World ending at the independence of colonies, the British empire was massive and once hailed as where the sun did not set. One way through which modern Britain remembers this history that brought the country wealth from overseas is through statues and naming of essential sites. An example is The Roads on the East India Estate. The Roads on the East India Estate Croydon is a large town in the South of London named after the London Borough of Croydon. While the area is primarily urban, it also consists of extensive suburban and rural uplands towards the south. Here, bound between Ashburton, Canning, Addiscombe, and Lower Addiscombe Roads, lies the East India Estate Conservation (88 acres) (Croydon_Council, 2014). Between 1809 and 1858, the area hosted the East India Company’s engineering college, a large mansion where Outram Road passes today. When the college closed, the land was sold in 1861, after which most of the structures were demolished. The land was subsequently divided into five residential streets built in the 1870s. In 2008, the Croydon Council established the East India Estate Conservation Area. The purpose was to commemorate the Victorian architecture within the area, formerly the East India Company property. The estate is spacious with a distinctive formal layout of a ladder of six parallel roads running from North to South, with Addiscombe Road on the South and Lower Addiscombe road to the north (see figure 1). Street-facing buildings and terraces define the regular perimeter blocks within the estate. The parallel roads or streets are named after prominent figures who played a significant role in India’s East India Company exploits: Lord Charles Canning, Sir James Outram, Sir Henry Havelock, Robert Clyde, and Lord Bruce Elgin. Therefore, while East India Estate is purported to celebrate and commemorate the Victorian Architectures, the choice of names for the roads also suggests that the site is a memorial symbol for the people who played critical roles in the East India Company. At the height of its reign in India, the company had a private army of over 260,000, twice the size of Britain’s army. The company was formed as a trading entity in the 1600s, focusing on the profitable spice trade. The company also participated in cotton, silk, indigo, tea, saltpetre, opium, and enslaved people. According to Erickson (Erikson, 2014), the East India Company was the largest corporation of its kind. It brought massive wealth into wealth and fuelled consumer culture, controlled politics, and was central to the realization of the British Empire. Thus, the East Indian estate is not just a commemoration of Victorian culture but an entombment of Britain’s history. Narration of Power Through the Roads Names in the Estate Based on the description in the previous chapter, it can be argued that the East India Company is perhaps one of the giant monopolies in the history of the world. Britain acquired vast resources that enabled its exploits in other countries in Africa, America, and some of her neighbors like Ireland and Scotland. The company was charted by Queen Elizabeth I highlighting its closeness to power. Indeed, the names on the streets in the estate are of powerful, wealthy, and influential figures who earned the accolades of Sir, Lord, and Earl: important socioeconomic positions in the British class distinctions. In any case, these are people that the common citizens could only admire. Thus, the first aspect through which power is narrated through this site is the influential figures involved in the company. Secondly, as already mentioned, the East India Company was an empire builder. With an army more extensive than the Queen’s Army, the company was perhaps the most potent private entity in the world at its height. Further, its influence is still felt today. For instance, it remains a hallmark for modern corporations since it relies on trading shares. Thus, the company held military and political weight, which allowed it to rule large areas of India and extract resources across the sea back to Britain. At the time, sea voyages were the most profitable ventures a person could be involved in. Thus, the roads in East India Estate are named after people admired and envied in Britain. According to Rolph-Trouillot (2015), the bigger the material mass, the more quickly it entraps us. Thus, when a site or monument is large, it brings history closer while making us feel small. Bigger monuments or memorial sites speak with the immensity we know little...