ABSTRACT
Chapter 8 explores the complex and sometimes conflicting relationship between the prevailing narrative of India’s contemporary architectural history and the discourses surrounding professional development. The chapter reveals that the narrative emphasizing the pursuit of formal independence and external validation often obscures an alternative narrative centered around the struggle for autonomy within the specific post-colonial context of India. While the achievement of legislative recognition for architects as autonomous professionals aligned their contribution with the developmental policies of the state at that time, subsequent political and cultural shifts brought about a renewed focus on culture and context in architectural aesthetics. This cultural turn in politics, coupled with a return to cultural and contextual considerations in architectural design, has resulted in a shift within the contemporary architectural profession away from the emancipatory agenda of earlier discourses.
