CfP: 3rd International Congress on Colonial and Post-colonial Landscapes: Architecture, Colonialism and Labour

by Admin | 28 Mar 2025

Although a common topic in colonial historiography, the influence of large-scale labor on the creation of built environments—including the design, construction, and maintenance of infrastructure, buildings and landscapes—has not been fully explored in the context of colonial architecture. The topic has significant implications not only for the description of past societies, but especially for the comprehension and support of present-day communities with colonial pasts and their relationship to the production of space. Connecting architecture and labor in these contexts offers a promising avenue for addressing some of the challenges encountered by postcolonial societies. These include the relationship with “Western” construction technologies and materials, scarcity of traditional building systems and their undervalued insights on climate adaptation and sustainable solutions, and persistent racial and gender inequalities in public works labor environments.

This congress welcomes contributions from diverse geographical, disciplinary, and chronological backgrounds to promote a wide and tough-provoking debate, crossing the history of colonial architecture, labour and social history and construction technology. In 2026 the Congress will count with the session ‘Legal entanglements of labor and architecture in Africa’, which invites novel and interdisciplinary contributions reading architecture, labor and law through one another and as entangled formations.

Call for Papers

Submission Period: 20 March – 20 May 2025

Submit your proposal in English via: https://forms.gle/TDXj6piGKzhgrSJa8

Submission Requirements: