Łukasz Stanek's Architecture in Global Socialism is an indispensable contribution to our understanding of the multifaceted process of globalization. Too often, globalization is associated with Americanization, a viewpoint that eliminates from globalization's history the multitude of actors that take part in its process, the various geopolitical positionings that shape international alliances, and the social, economic, and political agendas that these alliances stake. This process can be traced to the era of development following World War II, with the opening of decolonizing states in Asia and Africa to new actors and markets that challenged lingering colonial ties. By focusing on the work of architects from the socialist bloc in these emerging markets of the global South, Stanek's book breaks with the predominant monolithic view on the hegemony of Western capitalism and its unidirectional vectors of influence.
Building on growing scholarship regarding the production of knowledge in Eastern European countries and its...
University of California Press