ERC-ArchLabour
Architecture, Colonialism and Labour. The role and legacy of mass labour in the design, planning and construction of Public Works in former African territories under Portuguese colonial rule
Description

The discipline of architecture, when dealing with Public Works associated with colonialism and territorial occupation, still focuses on the analysis of the constitution of the design teams, of the colonial Public Works offices, of the architects and engineers themselves. This focus on the “designing elite” misses a critical input to these Public Works, namely the Labour force responsible for realising these structures. As such, critical questions about the labour force engaged in the spatialization of architectural plans are still missing: who were those workers? What ethnic groups did they come from? How did they emerge in contingents that could aggregate a few thousand individuals? What was their recruitment like? What expectations did they have? How were they paid? What training did they receive? What repercussions did these (mostly compulsive) work experiences have? What conflicts did they provoke in colonial societies? How did they resist recruitment? How did they collaborate? How to deal with this legacy? In answer, ArchLabour will develop a new theoretical framework for assessing mass labour in order to shine a spotlight on these invisible workers, thus establishing a connection between historical subalternity and the inequality that still haunts communities inheriting this past. Through the study of the diverse colonial experiences of the African countries that have Portuguese as one of their official languages (Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé and Principe, Angola and Mozambique), and covering a wide period from the modern colonization that begins after the Berlin Conference through the industrial capitalism’s exploitation praxis up to the years immediately following African independence, the project will cross the history of colonial architecture and the subject of Labour, with the history of Science applied to construction and post-colonial studies in architecture.

Internal Partners
Research Centre Research Group Role in Project Begin Date End Date
DINAMIA'CET-Iscte Cities and Territories Leader 2024-01-01 2028-12-31
External Partners

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Project Team
Name Affiliation Role in Project Begin Date End Date
Ana Vaz Milheiro Investigadora Coordenadora (DAU); Integrated Researcher (DINAMIA'CET-Iscte); Global Coordinator 2024-01-01 2028-12-31
Beatriz Serrazina Integrated Researcher (DINAMIA'CET-Iscte); Researcher 2024-01-01 2028-12-31
Filipa Fiúza Research Assistant (DINAMIA'CET-Iscte); Researcher 2024-01-01 2028-12-31
Francesca Vita Integrated Researcher (DINAMIA'CET-Iscte); Researcher 2024-01-01 2028-12-31
Inês Lima Rodrigues Integrated Researcher (DINAMIA'CET-Iscte); Researcher 2024-01-01 2028-12-31
Leonor Matos Silva Integrated Researcher (DINAMIA'CET-Iscte); Researcher 2024-01-01 2028-12-31
Sónia Pereira Henrique Integrated Researcher (DINAMIA'CET-Iscte); Researcher 2024-01-01 2028-12-31
Filipe Carmo Research Assistant (DINAMIA'CET-Iscte); Research Assistant 2024-01-01 2028-12-31
Project Fundings
Reference/Code Funding DOI Funding Type Funding Program Funding Amount (Global) Funding Amount (Local) Begin Date End Date
101096606 10.3030/101096606 Scholarship European Commission - European Commission - ERC - Belgium 2499996 2499996 2024-01-01 2028-12-31
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Other Outputs

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Project Files

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With the objective to increase the research activity directed towards the achievement of the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, the possibility of associating scientific projects with the Sustainable Development Goals is now available in Ciência_Iscte. These are the Sustainable Development Goals identified for this project. For more detailed information on the Sustainable Development Goals, click here.

Architecture, Colonialism and Labour. The role and legacy of mass labour in the design, planning and construction of Public Works in former African territories under Portuguese colonial rule
2024-01-01
2028-12-31