Reviews
BOOK REVIEW
Architecture and Tourism in Italian Colonial Libya: An Ambivalent
Modernism (Studies in Modernity and National Identity)
T
o be a tourist in Libya during the period of Italian colonization
was to experience a complex negotiation of cultures. Against a
sturdy backdrop of indigenous culture and architecture, modern
metropolitan culture brought its systems of transportation and
accommodation, as well as new hierarchies of political and social
control. Architecture and Tourism in Italian Colonial Libya shows
how Italian authorities used the contradictory forces of tradition
and modernity to both legitimize their colonial enterprise and
construct a vital tourist industry. Although most tourists sought
to escape the trappings of the metropole in favour of experiencing
“difference,” that difference was almost always framed, contained, and even
defined by Western culture.
McLaren argues that the “modern” and the
“traditional” were entirely constructed by colonial
authorities, who balanced their need to project an
image of a modern and efficient network of travel
and accommodation with the necessity of preserving
the characteristic qualities of the indigenous
culture. What made the tourist experience in Libya
distinct from that of other tourist destinations was
the constant oscillation between modernizing and
preservation tendencies. The movement between
these forces is reflected in the structure of the
book, which proceeds from the broadest level of
inquiry into the Fascist colonial project in Libya to
the tourist organization itself, and finally into the
architecture of the tourist environment, offering a
way of viewing state-driven modernization projects
and notions of modernity from a historical and
geographic perspective.
This is an important book for architectural historians and for those interested
in colonial and post-colonial studies, as well as Italian studies, African history,
literature, and cultural studies more generally. AD
AUTHOR: Brian L. McLaren ISBN: 978-0295741413
PAGES: 360 pages
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