In Events

panel series summer term 25, dis:connectivity and globalisation: Concepts, Terms, Practices

Dis:connectivity and Globalisation: Concepts, Terms, Practices

The panel series

The panel series is a virtual pre book launch for global dis:connect's first publication. Authors will discuss their terms with the editors, the gd:c directorate. The first of four sessions will take place on 1 July. The series takes place on Tuesday from 4-6 pm via Zoom.   You can download the programme of the panel series HERE.  

The Publication

Globalisation is one of the most contested concepts of our time. From its promise of borderless flows of people, goods, and finance in the 1990s, it embodies today almost the opposite: deglobalisation, as tariffs are erected, borders heavily policed, anti-migration regimes enforced and sanctions levied. This ‘disconnect’ between promise and realisation is the subject of Dis:connectivity and Globalisation: Concepts, Terms, Practices. In almost forty short essays and an introduction, it explores key concepts that illuminate processes of globalisation from a dis:connective perspective, which highlights the role of delays and detours, interruptions, resistances and absences as constitutive of globalisation. The volume proposes rethinking globalisation by redefining the terminology we use to describe and analyse it. The editors are directors of the Käte Hamburger Research Centre global dis:connect, hosted by LMU Munich. HERE you can find the preview by the publisher. Continue Reading

In Events

22-23 May, Decolonising architectural education: emerging global debates and the historical experience of African schools of architecture

Recent years have seen calls for the decolonisation of architectural education in architecture schools around the world. Students and faculty alike have argued for a more critical approach to the lingering effects of colonialism by reflecting on the history, material and ecological resources, labour conditions and social contexts of architecture as a practice and discipline. This is illustrated by a growing number of conferences, networks, research projects and political activities on the subject. The concerns expressed in these discussions parallel the situation in African architecture schools in the 1950s-1980s. In their programmes, curricula, student research projects and internal discussions, the schools that were founded in the course of political decolonisation (e.g. the KNUST in Kumasi, the Ethio-Swedish Institute of Building Technology in Addis Ababa, the École Africaine et Mauricienne de l`Architecture et de l`Urbanisme in Lomé, and the Faculdade de Arquitectura e Planeamento Físico in Maputo) often strived for a ‘decolonial’ perspective on architecture and urban planning, sought to promote economic independence and attempted to achieve cultural diversity in the design studio. In many countries, these schools had a decisive influence on the design of the built environment and the development of postcolonial socialisation. However, in contrast to the history of architecture schools like the Bauhaus, the Architectural Association in London and the Venice School of Architecture, the history of African schools of architecture has so far been insufficiently researched. The aim of this workshop is to explore the little-known history of African schools of architecture and their political function during decolonisation. In addition to exploring their historical influence on post-colonial nation building in the region, the discussions will address possible historical lessons for a multicultural and anti-discriminatory approach in architectural education today.   Dates: 22-23 May, 2025 Venue: Pavillon 333, Türkenstraße 15, 80333 Munich. Organiser: Nikolai Brandes Please register here by 13 May.         Continue Reading

In Events

15-16 May, Infrastructural memory: cultures of ecology and collapse

Infrastructure is commonly defined as the essential support that enables a system to function. This workshop, however, shifts the focus to consider what happens when infrastructure collapses, becomes obsolete or is destroyed. How might closer attention to infrastructural decline deepen our understanding of infrastructure not simply as something to celebrate or uphold, but as something marked by absence and interruption? Central to our conversations will be the role of memory in shaping and giving form to infrastructure. In the humanities, memory has come to be understood mainly as interhuman communication, taking such forms as testimonies or oral history reports. How can the concept of memory be expanded to encompass infrastructural support? Can (derelict) infrastructure itself become a site of memory? If landscapes are sites of memory where history has already happened, what do landscapes and their shaping by infrastructure by human and more-than-human interactions remember? How does infrastructure serve the purpose of multidirectional remembering? In an era of climate catastrophe, how should we remember the extractive infrastructures that have shaped our present crisis? How do colonial logics of racialised dispossession endure into the present, either encoded in infrastructure or enabled by its absence? How do infrastructures exist as palimpsests, layered with conflicting memories and aspirations? Finally, as infrastructures decay, how can they be redeemed, repurposed or invested with new meanings? This workshop brings together an interdisciplinary group of researchers to examine infrastructures as sites of absence and interruption, framing these discussions through the lens of memory. Drawing on the ‘infrastructural turn’ in the humanities and social sciences (Johnson and Nemser 2022), participants are invited to engage with any of the many temporalities of infrastructure, moving beyond its conventional association with space. Of particular interest here are contributions that reflect on ‘the aesthetic life of infrastructure’ (Rich et al. 2023), exploring how infrastructure performs, is represented in culture or can be analysed in terms of affect, symbolism and embodiment.     Dates: 15-16 May, 2025 Venue: Käte Hamburger Research Centre global dis:connect, Maria-Theresia-Str. 21, 81675 Munich Convened by Shane Boyle (Queen Mary University of London) and Gerald Siegmund (Justus-Liebig University Giessen) Please register here by 7 May.         Continue Reading

In Events

lunch time colloquium summer term 25

The lunchtime colloquium (“ltc”) of the gd:c continues in the summer term. The first session will take place on 29 April. The colloquium takes place on Tuesdays from 11.30 am to 1 pm at the library of the Research Centre.   You can download the programme of the lunchtime colloquium HERE. Continue Reading

In Events

24-25 April, Archiving Dis:connected Cultural Heritages in Africa: Prospects, Processes and Challenges

Archives are global sources of information, cultural transmission and identity formation that preserve cultural heritage. They constitute one of the most valuable national assets and, according to Canadian archivist Arthur Doughty, are gifts of one generation to another. Despite their value, many archives and collections, especially in the Global South, are facing destruction by natural or man-made disasters. Many others are poorly stored and need to be conserved, restored or converted into new formats to remain accessible. Even more fragile are what Lowry (2023) refers to as disputed and displaced archives — a term that could broadly encompass contested or disconnected histories and cultural heritage, including indigenous knowledge systems, traditional practices and performative heritage of marginalised cultures, such as those of the Black/African cultural renaissance. The history of the Black/African cultural renaissance consists largely of pan-African ideas, movements, actors and transnational events related to the struggles of the continent and its diaspora against empire. Cultural festivals such as FESMAN 1966, PANAF 1969, Zaire 1974 and FESTAC 1977 functioned as global arenas for the celebration of African unity, the exhibition of Black/African cultural heritage and collaboration between Black/African artists, scholars, cultural administrators and governments. In addition, they served as sites of protest for geopolitical exclusions, socio-cultural hegemony, politically motivated absence and silencing dissidents, including artists and scholars, and highlighted different paths of development on the continent. Given the global framing of Black/African heritage in these events and the transnational aims of their conceptualisation, organisation, promotion, participants and remembrance, the workshop aims to explore the often-overlooked tensions, absences and dis:connections in the conceptual, organisational and participatory frameworks of pan-African postcolonial festivals from a broad perspective. It will also examine how these festivals and the collections and narratives they produced both represented and obscured aspects of Africa’s cultural heritage. Most importantly, it will look at the challenges associated with archiving, preserving and digitising the material remains of these festivals and the wider implications for understanding postcolonial African identity, cultural heritage and historiography. The workshop aims to synthesise different perspectives on how dis:connected cultural heritage – fragmented by colonial histories, geopolitical tensions and institutional constraints – are remembered, archived or lost.     Dates: 24-25 April,2025 Venue: Käte Hamburger Research Centre global dis:connect, Maria-Theresia-Str. 21, 81675 Munich Organisers: Gideon Morison and Andrea Kifyasi Please register here by 16 April. You can find the program here.         Continue Reading