Buildings and places as a Palimpsest in Tbilisi

The study focuses on a 115-year-old house in Tbilisi, originally built for one person and later converted into a communal living space during the Soviet era. More recently, it has undergone further changes and now serves as an exclusive residence and popular chic restaurant. This research addresses the intricacies of the house as a complex entity, often referred to as a "bundle," that brings together people, ideas, materiality, affects, times, and spaces. The main goal is to analyze how the materiality of the building allows for different interpretations and repurposing. The house serves as a captivating example of a palimpsest, where some layers are hidden while others come to the fore. Among these layers, some muted ones refer to the controversial past of Tbilisi's courtyards, including repression and surveillance. In contrast, certain layers are highlighted to evoke the authenticity of a traditional Tbilisi courtyard-house and create places of nostalgia that can be commodified. This article attempts to adopt a decolonial perspective. It examines Tbilisi's houses and urban courtyards as locally produced responses to centrally imposed Soviet regulations.

 

 

Speaker:

Ketevan Gurchiani is a professor of anthropology at Ilia State University in Tbilisi, Georgia. She is particularly interested in the domesticated and non-domesticated nature of the city, materiality, and informal practices of resistance. Ketevan Gurchiani is also involved in research projects that focus on diversity, migration, and peace practices.

Since 2020, Ketevan Gurchiani has been leading the project: "Tbilisi as an Urban Assemblage".

 

Discussant:

Éric Verdeil, Sciences Po-CERI