This seminar combines approaches from different historical and social sciences in order to investigate the global complexity of the built environment. With four groups of students, each guided by one of the researchers from the Leibniz Institute for Research on Society and Space we would like to work on four regional foci, using a range of research methods. Instead of pursuing a fixed schedule we intend to explore various topics in a form of a research laboratory.
The group led by Monika Motylinska will investigate the materiality of healthcare architecture in sub-Saharan Africa in the long 20th century from the point of view of architectural and urban history. We are going to analyse global and local flows of construction materials and labour. Starting with a particular project such as the Bugando Hospital in Mwanza (Tanzania), we will look at different scales and temporalities, in order to understand the spatial functioning of both high-end but also very mundane typologies and trace their interconnectedness (or disconnections) from global and regional dynamics.
The group led by Paul Sprute will examine how processes of globalisation played out in a historical perspective. We will take cases from throughout the 20th century into account and specifically examine the importance of different ruptures, such as decolonization. Using historical sources, it is possible to discuss how different actors, such as construction professionals perceived processes of globalization themselves, but also look at the changing roles of large construction companies. Infrastructure projects, notably the construction of ports in the ‘Global South’, such as the port of Lomé, will be a particular focus and exemplify the conjunctures of one building task.
The group led by Sadia Amin will be focused on city building in contemporary South Asia through the lens of land as a contested infrastructure. Focusing on the real estate industry and the ambition of major cities to become ”world-class” we will look at how rapid urbanization has created and reshaped urban inequalities. Through investigating how cities of South Asia are devised, financed, and constructed, we can understand how urban development can be seen as further facilitating processes of gentrification and displacement. This will enable us to comprehend the multifaceted everyday materialities of city-building, and to push the boundaries of understanding South Asia as merely a postcolonial space.
The group led by María Jeldes will investigate the organisation of construction as a global industry operating in international and translocal networks drawing on a relational perspective from economic geography. Focusing on cases from the 20th century located in Latin America, we will follow the global circulation of material and immaterial elements of architecture and planning and study how they connect to urbanization processes in the ‘Global South’. Our starting point will be the activities of the Philip Holzmann company in Buenos Aires, specially the construction of infrastructure projects for the electrical and transportation systems of the city.
Participation in the seminar on the history of the built environment in the ‘Global South’ (winter semester 2020/2021) is not a prerequisite, as this seminar is a complimentary proposal. All four groups will work together on presentations that will be discussed during the final meeting.
Due to a limited number of participants, please submit a short letter of motivation (max. 300 words) to freigeist@leibniz-irs.de until 21 March. |