Global construction companies impact our futures. Beyond the edifices and infrastructures they construct, they also fundamentally influence governmental development aid policies, or dislocate people to build a new dam, for example.

Yet the role of these major global players and their persistent presence in different world regions has barely been reflected upon.This two-day workshop discusses how major German construction companies conquered markets and spaces, thereby cementing their presence in different regions of the Global South, and it will trace the footprints left behind, long after the dust of the construction sites settled.

Register to participate in person at heritage[at]uni-weimar.de

To see the presentations online, please click here. Password: 655436

More Information on the "Conquering (with) Concrete" project here.

Monday, 4 April

Geschwister-Scholl-Straße 8a, Oberlichtsaal*

9:00 - 10:30       Monika Motylinska, María Jeldes, Paul Sprute | IRS Erkner
Introduction: Legacies of the label "Made in Germany"

11:00-13:00       Paul Sprute | IRS Erkner   
PhD Session: Port construction in West Africa (global history)

14:00-16:00       Daniel Hadwiger | IRS Erkner 
Places of arrival. The accommodation of foreigners in European cities in the 20th Century in an inter-communal perspective

16:30-18:00       Internal paper session

Tuesday, 5 April

Geschwister-Scholl-Straße 8a, Oberlichtsaal*

9:00 - 10:30       Cornelia Escher | Kunstakademie Düsseldorf
Invited talk: Asbestos and Organics. Materialities of Building in Togo and Cameroon around 1900

11:00 - 13:00     María Jeldes | IRS Erkner 
PhD session: Global value chains in construction industry in Latin America

14:00 - 16:00     Monika Motylinska | IRS Erkner 
Habilitation session: Transactional Architectures. German Entrepreneurial Builders in Sub-Saharan Africa

16:15 - 17:00     Wrap-up session

Marienstraße 13c, Hörsaal A* / Online

18:30 - 20:00     Johan Lagae | Ghent University 
Keynote lecture (Identity and Heritage lecture series):
"Sorry Congo !?" On the positionality of architectural history in dealing with Congo's colonial past             

* We would be very grateful, if all participants could please do a voluntary rapid test in advance.