Jessica Joyce Christie - Political Landscapes of Capital Cities

The roots of Political Landscapes of Capital Cities grew out of conversations Jessica Christie had with Patricia Netherly, who advised her that if she were interested in probing the relations between urbanism and politics, she should read Adam T. Smiths The Political Landscape. After reading it, Jessica began to think of the cities of el-Amarna in Egypt and Cusco in Peru, where she had done fieldwork, and realized Smiths work helped her focus more directly on the ways politics took spatial form for these cultures. Conversations with Jelena Bogdanovi led to planning a session on the spatial expressions of politics in capital cities as viewed through Smiths lens at the annual conference of the College Art Association in Chicago in 2010. The session proved highly successful as evident in the diversity of papers received; the panel gathered architectural and art historians who addressed political dimensions of space in five capital cities. That panel generated a robust discussion and led to consideration of a volume of collected essays on the same topic that would range across a larger geographical scope and incorporate not only expanded essays from the conference participants but contributions from other scholars; at this point Eulogio Guzmn was invited to join the project and participate as a coeditor.

Several years later, with this book reaching its publication, we owe a debt of gratitude to many individuals and institutions. We are most thankful to our contributors, who entrusted their work to us and persevered through numerous iterations of this project. Without their commitment and without continuous support from our commissioning editor, Jessica dArbonne, and director, Darrin Pratt, from the University Press of Colorado, this book would not have been possible.

At the University Press of Colorado, we would also like to acknowledge the insightful guidance of the editorial board. Anonymous book reviewers provided constructive critiques; their suggestions are reflected in the final manuscript. We also acknowledge Daniel Pratt for working with us on the cover as well as Karl Yamberts, Laura Furneys, and Linda Gregoniss assistance in copyediting and preparing the index.

We would further like to acknowledge financial, logistic, and intellectual support of our home institutions of East Carolina University, Iowa State University, and Tufts University. At East Carolina University, we would like to thank Michael Drought, Director of the School of Art and Design; Chris Buddo, Dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communication; as well as Mike Dixon for his technical assistance. At Iowa State University, we thank Deborah Hauptmann, Chair of the Architectural Department, and Luis Rico-Gutierrez, Dean of the College of Design, as well as the Iowa State University Publication Subvention by Dr. Wolfgang Kliemann, Associate Vice President for Research, and supporting team Sue Shipitalo, Sandra Norvell, and Jean Holt. At Tufts University, we thank Kevin Dunn, Vice Provost, and Jonathan Wilson, Director Center of Humanities at Tufts.

Our thanks also go to our colleagues, family, and friends who provided encouragement and positive energy that kept this project alive. Jessica Christie first and foremost acknowledges the stimulating collaboration with her coeditors that made this book succeed; she is deeply grateful for the good company and photographic assistance provided by her son, Brian Garrett, during their many fieldtrips to Peru and Egypt; in Cusco, she has been blessed with the logistical, research, and emotional support of Ral Ccorahua and Flor de Mara Huaycochea Nez de la Torre, and her beloved family Conza Len-Velarde; in Egypt, it was only Ahmed Fathy who made it possible for her to explore el-Amarna the way she wanted to. Jelena Bogdanovi extends her thanks to her family Duan Danilovi; Vojislav Bogdanovi; Sneana, Bratislav, and Josif Dragi; and Biljana and Stevan Danilovi; to her coeditors, Jessica Christie and Eulogio Guzmn; and to her colleagues and friends who supported this project in various capacities: Ljubomir Milanovi, Ivan Drpi, Elena Boeck, Punam Madhok, Gunnar Swanson, Robbie Quinn, Ron Graziani, Joyce Newman, Erin and Kevin Kalish, Neboja Stankovi, Igor Marjanovi, Jason Alread, David Michelson, Fani Gargova, and April Eisman. Eulogio Guzmn is thankful to Cecelia F. Klein, Leonardo Lpez Lujn, and Vickie Sullivan for their steady scholarly exchanges and contributions. He is eternally grateful to Irene Acevedo, Diana Guzmn, Pedro Guzmn, Jennifer L. Munson, and Jacquie Dow for their unwavering moral support and to his coeditors, Jelena and Jessica, for their invitation to join this project and for their indefatigable congenial commitment to this publication.

2016 by Jessica Joyce Christie, Jelena Bogdanovi, and Eulogio Guzmn

Published by University Press of Colorado

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