How my interest became a blog topic.

Thinking back on what made the politics of things an important topic for me I think completes a full cycle of understanding life.  I grew up in a small North Queensland town where options were minimal, one private and one public high school, the private being Catholic and the public being for everyone else.  The minorities established their architecture to reflect their place in the history of our town.  The Catholic Italians established multiple churches, the private school and most of the businesses were owned by this demographic.  The racial majority of the Italians, even though the Chinese managed a  strong influence in the population to help establish this new frontier of Far North Queensland over 100 years ago.  The political architecture that is the Chinese Josh house in the main street of town, symbolises the fact that the Chinese community was strong in Innisfail and found refuge in Far North Queensland when the White Australia Policy was introduced only when it was withdrawn did the Chinese community all but disappear back down south. 


But this was all lost on me until the reading of a paper on the political nature of artefacts within a topic for Uni, this brought the proverbial light bulb moment for me.  The reading of the Robert Moses bridge designed in the 20's to stop public transport therefore the poor and the coloureds going onto parkways to this day still has the same impact, no public transport can ride it.  Even though he had influence over legislature, banks and unions 'his remaining influences were his technologies' (Winner, 2006).  This made me consider all the architecture that had influences on society not only in my small northern town, via the Catholic Italians and the Chinese and indigenous cultures but globally.  Also how it and what is was originally designed for and how it may have gathered a political presence as time goes by.

This social and political influence through technologies and artefacts gave way to another interest, communications, understanding the political influence within art, music, architecture and how that impacts the subliminal meanings of conversations.  Understanding on one level of communication through not knowing and understanding on another level through connecting the dots of influence through knowledge.  This got me curious to develop my ability to give more depth and understanding and ease through my ability to investigate and connect the political and social nature behind stuff-artefacts.  This topic and the unfolding potential of uncovering a nuance of the outreaching impacts of developments that in the past may have escaped my previous topics of discussion and investigation is something that I find exciting.

With my passion for travelling and the exploring I engage with of not only geographical and social effects but conversations with the people and their cultures along the way.  Recently after traveling through Dubai and uncovering the dissent within the community of how their city has been built on the blood of slave labour imported from India and other arab countries over the past 30 years.  Which we, the tourist, flock to because of the amazing architecture and the superiority of everything they have to offer to entice our senses in world first experiences. Or the 7000 year history of Malta and how the noble families of Europe invested in this 22 mile long country to assist in the victories of war, of which there were many, as this island was a political and strategic stronghold to those who wish to succeed in conquering Europe.   

In seeing how the evolution of life, culture and society is really filled with aspects that connect us all humanly through evolutions of architecture, art and social mediums such as music, film and theatre, this ability to explore this topic allows me to feel well positioned in my world in relation to the unspoken and diversely understood perspectives of the people I meet.  Not to judge but to understand and make sense of it for me who these people are and the essence of the culture that they come from, whether they be European, American, Arabic or New Zealand, it is their culture that forms the people, through developments of technologies and social structures of arts, we meet and we all have  political views and alignment and that is all built upon by our unique histories.