KaleidoLA Speaker Series welcomes art historian Dr. Nasser Rabbat who will present his lecture, A Shared Heritage? Classicism in Islamic Architecture, which questions the linearity of the classical heritage that Renaissance Europe has claimed as its own to the exclusion of other cultures on the southern and eastern shores of the Mediterranean. As his case study, Dr. Rabbat argues that Levantine late antique and early Islamic architecture considered classical architecture a heritage to build upon, modify or deconstruct in a conscious attempt to chart a novel, or, perhaps more accurately, a Post-Classical architecture.  In doing so, Dr. Rabbat challenges the dominant historiography that posits the West as the sole heir to the Classical Tradition, and instead, proposes a model of transcultural epistemology in which Islamic culture formed an essential component of the universal Classical heritage that still plays a foundational role in our contemporary global civilization. 

About the Speaker

Nasser Rabbat is the Aga Khan Professor and the Director of the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at MIT. An architect and a historian, his scholarly interests include the history and historiography of Islamic architecture, art, and cultures, urban history, and post-colonial criticism. He teaches lecture courses on various facets of Islamic architecture and seminars on the history of Islamic urbanism and contemporary cities, orientalism, historiography, and the issue of meaning in architecture. In his research and teaching he presents architecture in ways that illuminate its interaction with culture and society and stress the role of human agency in shaping that interplay.

About KaleidoLA

KaleidoLA is the Department of Art and Art History’s annual guest speaker series. For the past eleven years, KaleidoLA has been a vital connection between Loyola Marymount University and the Los Angeles arts community. For more information about our Spring events, contact Dr. Melody Rod-ari, Associate Professor and Chair of Art History, arthistorychair@lmu.edu