Call for Papers: Shared Heritage Africa – Campuses
Call for Papers
Special Issue of DOCOMOMO Journal
with the working title:
Shared Heritage Africa – Campuses
DOCOMOMO International is pleased to announce the Call for Papers for a special issue of the DOCOMOMO Journal dedicated to the investigation, documentation and representation of tertiary institutional buildings and sites in Africa built during the 1950s to the 1970s. This special issue is linked to the DOCOMOMO project Shared Heritage Africa (SHA) which focuses on the documentary rediscovery of modern university campuses in Africa as examples of cultural landscapes from the period of independence from colonial rule, specifically Ghana (1957), Nigeria (1960), and also Uganda and Rwanda, (both 1962). The SHA-project (https://sha.architectuul.com) investigates higher education sites as part of modern urban history in those four countries primarily. However, the editors are also soliciting contributions from other parts of Africa to contribute to the exploration and understanding, of the evolution of this unique educational heritage and also how best to use our knowledge of this history to identify ways in which we can evolve design and planning decisions that might support sustainable urban and social development policies today.
The special issue acknowledges that ‘universities were crucial institutions in decolonising nations’ (Livsey, 2017, 2) and served as ‘catalyst(s) for technological development’ (Adjei and Oppong, 2017, 436). The construction of higher education institutions in the second half of the 20th century demonstrated some continuities in historical trajectories, such as the positioning of Western education in ‘ivory towers’ separate from existing African contexts (Uduku, 2018). Additionally, many European architects from different countries and for various reasons came to Africa to build and teach architecture (May, 1953; Intsiful, 2016; Stanek, 2020). Yet, disruptions were also evident in the increasing number of African and Black diaspora architects creating and studying architecture in this era of independence (Stanek, 2020; Manful, 2015; Uduku, 2018; 2008; Le Roux and Uduku, 2004), many of whom were working and studying in the margins and peripheries of their national contexts. Furthermore, there were some challenges to colonial-European orthodoxy in African architecture curricula and linkages to emerging bodies such as the Commonwealth Association of Architects (CAA) and the International Union of Architects (IUA).
This call asks respondents to identify and rediscover projects situated at the periphery of the main architectural discourse. This particularly refers to those that have either been forgotten, undocumented and have had limited publicity or discussion, despite their social, economic, and political significance. The rediscovery of this significant educational and institutional heritage seeks to concentrate on exploring the values, challenges and opportunities through the eyes of contemporary users, actors and stakeholders whose views have not been recorded in traditional histories. We are particularly interested in exploratory interviews and other methods used to record and collect the narratives and testimonies of these contemporary and historic stakeholders engaged with living and working in these institutions.
Besides the aforementioned SHA-project countries (Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda and Rwanda), we also welcome research papers that document experiences in any of these themes, relating to higher educational institutions in other African countries.
Aspects for exploration and research publication include:
- the physical: expressed in construction, deterioration and conservation (technical, functional, social),
- the environmental: considering the quality, and sustainability of spaces, and also conditions of comfort and satisfaction,
- the anthropological: through the sense of identity, community, place attachment, maintenance and taking care, ownership and appropriation.
- Note this is not an exclusive list and we welcome contributions which respond to other issues which relate to those identified above.
Besides internationally renowned invited authors, this is an open call for academics and practitioners with an interest in the subject to contribute to this special issue of the DOCOMOMO Journal. The kinds of submissions we are expecting are as follows:
- articles on documentation and conservation issues (2,000-4,000 words)
- case studies as photo documentation or digital models (2,000-3,000 words),
- essays and interviews (1,000 words),
- articles addressing heritage in danger (500-1000 words),
- book reviews (500-1000 words).
This DOCOMOMO Journal is guest edited by the SHA-project partners Anica Dragutinovic, Christian Burkhard, Kuukuwa Manful, Mark Olweny, Ola Uduku, and Taibat Lawanson (in alphabetical order).
All submissions for this special issue will be double-blind peer reviewed before final selection by the guest editors in cooperation with the editorial team of the DOCOMOMO Journal. The DOCOMOMO Journal is Open Access and indexed by Scopus and DOAJ - Directory of Open Access Journals amongst others (www.docomomojournal.com).
Please upload your paper including references and endnotes and your 100 words Biography to the OJS system, as two word-files: one with name and biography of authors, and the one fully anonymous to the following URL: https://docomomojournal.com/index.php/journal/about/submissions by midnight on 31st January 2023.
This special issue of the DOCOMOMO Journal will be published mid 2023.
Timeline DJ 69 (2023-02)
Call for Papers: 15 December 2022
Submission of Papers: 31 January 2023
Selection of Papers: 12 February 2023
Blind Review Process: 01 April 2023
Revision Papers: 15 April 2023
Intended Publication Date: 01 July 2023
This publication is based upon work from the project Shared Heritage Africa. Rediscovering Masterpieces (SHA) and is supported by the BfAA (Bundesamt für Auswärtige Angelegenheiten): bfaa.diplo.de
