Humanities Futures: Franklin Humanities Institute
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Working Group: African Cities

This set of papers emerged from a working group co-convened by Profs. Charles Piot (Cultural Anthropology) and John Bartlett (Duke Global Health Institute). Urban planning in contemporary Africa involves the construction of master-planned, holistically designed, and privately managed enclaves that appear like alien spaceships. While Martin Murray explores their social, political, and economic consequences, Filip DeBoeck examines artists’ detailed models that amalgamate past and contemporary urban architecture in an imaginary African future. Finally, Ato Quayson in an autobiographical play of juxtapositions seeks to capture the kinetic nature of Accra’s city life via “a horizontal archaeology,” showing how seemingly self-contained phenomena are intertwined. Together this group of “think pieces” demonstrates fascinating new approaches to reading African cities, offering lessons and perspectives missed in scholarship focusing exclusively on Western cities.

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  • “Still It Makes Me Laugh, No Time to Die”: Methodological Reflections on Oxford Street

    — Ato Quayson —

  • Eko-Atlantic project, Nigeria.

    Re-Urbanism in Africa: Frictionless Utopias for the Contemporary Urban Age

    — Martin J. Murray —

  • Pume Bylex's Tourist City

    "Illuminating the Hole": Kinshasa’s Makeovers Between Dream and Reality

    — Filip de Boeck —

  • Martin Murray | Re-Urbanism in Africa

    — October 7, 2015 —

  • thumbnail

    Samuel Shearer | Kigali’s Liquid Futures: Corporeal Infrastructures and Hydraulic Politics

    — November 4, 2015 —

  • thumbnail

    Alex Ezeh | Health and the African City: Nairobi and Its Settlements

    — February 4, 2016 —

  • thumbnail

    Filip de Boeck | “Illuminating the Hole”: Kinshasa’s Makeover Between Dream and Reality

    — February 17, 2016 —

  • Ato Quayson | ‘Still it Makes Me Laugh, No Time to Die’: Methodological Reflections on Oxford Street

    — March 30, 2016 —

  • No related media at this time.

  • Quayson.A.portrait

    Ato Quayson

    — New York University —

  • Filip de Boeck portrait

    Filip de Boeck

    — KU Leuven, Belgium —

  • Martin Murray portrait

    Martin J. Murray

    — University of Michigan, Ann Arbor —

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