During late colonialism in Africa, the so-called “neighbourhoods” for African workers were often conceptualised by European apparatuses as pivotal sites for “modernisation” and control, especially in response to (times of) conflict. Their location close to larger settlements, predominantly populated by white settlers, set the ground for ambitious “urbanisation” and “civilising” plans and programmes, under the guises of “welfare”. This communication will examine two case studies of neighbourhoods in Angola and Guinea-Bissau, with very different settings and timeframes, to question the agency of housing in sustaining or contesting colonial rule and rhetoric. How was housing used as a means of endurance or contestation by both colonising and colonised subjects? What was the impact of such conflicting agendas on housing plans, building materials, and later transformations? Combining archival material, oral histories and fieldwork, this communication seeks to use the neighbourhood as a research site to discuss how colonialism operated through housing and its mobilisation within the concepts of “development,” “modernisation” and “civilisation” in colonial and contemporary times.

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Colonial neighbourhoods,African workers,Diamang,Guinea-Bissau

This publication is an output of the following project(s):

• 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