COURSE DESCRIPTION:

Faculty of Architecture TU Delft
AR2AA010B: Architecture and Colonialism
Wednesdays from 13:45-17:45

Course Brief:

Architecture has played a significant role in colonialism, serving as both a tool of domination and a symbol of power. Colonial architecture has often been designed to reflect the authority of the colonizers, imposing foreign styles and structures on local landscapes as a way to assert control. Grand administrative buildings, military forts, religious buildings, and infrastructure projects were constructed to represent the colonizers’ perceived superiority, while often disregarding indigenous architectural traditions and spatial practices. From railway stations in India, to churches in Indonesia and prisons in Tanzania, colonial powers–including European states such as Great Britain, the Netherlands and Germany–transformed built environments around the world, impacting people’s lives and relationships with space. At the same time, they often exploited local labor and resources in these construction efforts, further entrenching economic and social hierarchies. However, over time, many colonized societies adapted and hybridized these architectural styles, blending them with their own traditions, creating unique forms that reflect the complex legacy of colonialism. In postcolonial contexts, architecture continues to serve as a battleground for reclaiming identity, heritage, and autonomy from the colonial past.

This course provides a timely and in-depth examination of the history of colonial architecture, moving from a broader contextualisation of colonial architecture to focus on settler colonialism in Palestine.  It will consider how this history informs the current conflict in Gaza. By exploring the origins and implications of the colonial borders that gave rise to the Gaza Strip, the course aims to shed light on the historical context that underpins contemporary issues.

In addition to its focus on historical and political contexts, the course delves into the intricate relationship between architecture and colonialism. It investigates how architecture has been utilized as a tool for control and domination over both land and people. Through exploring a range of building typologies, including camps, checkpoints and water infrastructure, we will analyze how architectural practices have been employed to assert colonial power, shape societal structures, and reinforce systemic inequalities. At the same time, the course explores how architecture and the built environment can function as instruments for identity formation, the preservation of cultural heritage, or, conversely, the erasure of historical narratives. Through critical engagement with the ongoing situation in Palestine, students will have the opportunity to scrutinize the ways in which colonial histories and practices continue to impact the present. The course encourages a thorough analysis of how colonial constructs and narratives have created disjunctions between past and present, as well as divisions within Palestinian spaces and communities. By challenging these colonial frameworks, students will gain a deeper understanding of how history and geography are interwoven with power dynamics, and how they shape the lived experiences of people in Palestine today.

Lectures from tutors and invited guests will guide the students in developing a critical position towards architecture and colonialism. Building on readings and lectures, the students will develop a shared vocabulary to communicate the entanglements between architecture and colonialism. This will result in a collectively produced Colonial Glossary. The glossary will provide the foundation for the development of individual projects that are centered around the theme of layering, through which the students will express their interpretations and positions on the nexus of architecture and colonialism in Palestine. 

Education Method:

The course features several dedicated thematic lectures and seminars from a variety of lecturers and guest speakers that pertain to and inform the subject.

Assessment:

The Colonial Glossary: 20% of the Grade (Group Work)

In preparation for their final project, students will create a “colonial glossary,” a collection of key terms and concepts related to colonialism and its legacies. This will encourage critical reflection on the course material, prompting students to revisit and deepen their understanding. Each term, such as “imperialism” or “decolonization,” will need to be researched and clearly defined, before being represented by text or image in a shared colonial glossary.
Rather than just memorizing definitions, students will synthesize ideas, exploring how terms connect to historical and contemporary contexts. This project will also encourage them to reflect on their own perspectives and how they interpret these concepts, making the glossary a personal and intellectual exercise. It will serve as a final demonstration of their learning, offering concrete insights into complex ideas.
Useful reference: https://www.subjectiveeditions.org/atlases/p/subjectiveatlasofpalestine

Final Project: Design by Research 80% of the grade (Individual Work)

Students will be tasked with designing a reflective project that draws on the concept of “layering” to deepen their understanding of the material and the research they will be conducting for the course. This approach will encourage them to explore the complex ways in which time and space intersect, particularly within colonial and postcolonial contexts through a medium of their choice that encompasses a process of layering. They will be asked to think critically about how different historical periods, events, and ideologies overlap and coexist, demonstrating how different colonial entities shape the everyday lives of colonized people. By examining how the past continues to influence contemporary social, cultural, and political realities, students will be challenged to uncover the subtle and often invisible ways colonial histories shape modern identities, landscapes, and power dynamics.

In completing this project, students will also be encouraged to infuse their personal perspectives, making their reflections a deeply individualized process. They will examine their own viewpoints and consider the sources of their knowledge, understanding that their positionality influences how they interpret colonial histories. This introspective layer will invite them to critically assess their relationships with the world around them, whether through personal connections, cultural heritage, or global dynamics. Ultimately, this project will invite students to not only reflect on the course content but to engage in self-examination, fostering a richer understanding of themselves as they connect the past, present, and future in their analysis of colonial worlds.

Course Outline:

Week		Topic
3.1	Introduction	Colonialism and Architecture
3.2		Colonial Production of Knowledge and History vs. Indigenous Knowledge of Land and Time
3.3	Infrastructures of Control and Domination	The production of Borders in Palestine: Master Planning as a tool of colonial domination
3.4		Land, Agriculture, and Water: Colonial control and erasure
3.5		Walls, Checkpoints, and Settlements: Colonial Architecture and the patterns of everyday life.
3.6		Project Presentations
3.7		Palestinian Refugee camps inside and outside Palestine: Beyond Colonial Borders
3.8		Urbicide, Ecocide, Scholasticide: Urban destruction and the politics of Memory.
3.9		No Class
3.10		Final Project Presentations

Learning Objectives:
By the end of the course, students will be able to:

1. Analyze the relationship between colonialism and architecture through a range of case studies from Palestine and other contexts.
2. Recognize how architecture can be employed as a tool for domination and control over both land and populations.
3. Expand their understanding of architecture as a field that intersects with political, economic, and social dimensions, rather than viewing it solely as a material artifact with aesthetic value.
4. Engage critically with broader issues that influence contemporary global dynamics.
5. Contribute thoughtfully to challenging discussions while acknowledging the ethical responsibilities that architects and researchers have towards marginalized communities.
6. Develop/design/formulate a creative work incorporating representational mediums and critical engagement
7. Interpret colonial structures mediated through agencies and tools of architecture in everyday settings

Course References:

Abourahme, N. (2012). “The Politics of Space: Palestinian Architecture and the Israeli Occupation.” In Architecture and the Paradox of the Post-Colonial City, edited by S. Said and F. El-Husseini, pp. 101-120. Routledge.

Abourahme, N. (2014). “Architectural Education in Palestine: Occupation, Dispossession, and the Possibility of New Spaces.” In The Journal of Architecture and Urbanism, 38(1), 25-38.

Abourahme, N. (2016). “Building the Wall: Architecture and the Politics of Separation in Palestine.” In Critical Architecture, 22(2), 45-59.

Abourahme, N. (2018). “Reframing the City: Urbanism and Architecture in Contemporary Palestine.” In The Urban Studies Journal, 55(4), 737-751.

Abourahme, N. (2019). “The Coloniality of the Built Environment: Architecture, Power, and the Palestinian Experience.” In Space and Culture, 22(3), 289-305.

Azoulay, A. (2019). “Potential History: Unlearning Imperialism.” Verso Books.

Daniel, E.V., (1996). Charred lullabies. Princeton University Press. Fanon, F. (1963). “The Wretched of the Earth.” Grove Press.

Hirsch, M., (2012). The generation of postmemory: writing and visual culture after the Holocaust. Columbia University Press. Humanities, 6(3), p.60.

Khalidi, R. (2020). “The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917-2017.” Metropolitan Books.

Khalidi, W. (1997). “All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948.” Institute for Palestine Studies.

Maqusi, S. (2017). ‘Space of Refuge’: Negotiating Space with Refugees Inside the Palestinian Camp.

Maqusi, S., (2021). Acts of Spatial Violation: The Politics of Space-Making inside the Palestinian Refugee Camp. ARENA Journal of Architectural Research, 6(1).

Maraqa, H. (2004). Palestinians; From Village Peasants to Camp Refugees: Analogies and Disparities in the Social Use of Space. Master’s. The University of Arizona. Morris, Rosalind C., ed. Can the Subaltern Speak?: Reflections on the History of an Idea. New York: Columbia University Press, 2010.

Pappé, I. (2006). “The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine.” Oneworld Publications.

Peteet, J., (1987). Socio-political integration and conflict resolution in the Palestinian camps in Lebanon. Journal of Palestine Studies, 16(2), pp.29-44.

Peteet, J., (2011). Landscape of Hope and Despair: Palestinian Refugee Camps. In Landscape of Hope and Despair. University of Pennsylvania Press.

Petti, A. (2013). Spatial Ordering of Exile. The Architecture of Palestinian Refugee Camps. Crios, pp.pp.62-70.

Said, E. (1978). “Orientalism.” Pantheon Books.

Said, E. (1986). “After the Last Sky: Palestinian Lives.” Columbia University Press. The Funambulist Issue 50, Redefining our Terms (open access) Issue 54, Colonial Continuums

Weizman, E. (2007). “The Hollow Land: Israel’s Architecture of Occupation.” Verso Books. Weizman, E., 2017. Forensic architecture: Violence at the threshold of detectability. Princeton University Press.