Brings together research by Africanist anthropologists and architectural historians who share in the pursuit of an archaeology of modernist architecture in Africa. Case studies connect the colonial and postcolonial origins of modernist architecture, the historical processes, and present use and habitation. 132 b/w and 35 col. photographs.

List of Figures Introduction    Recognizing African Modernisms Paul Wenzel Geissler, Johan Lagae and Nina Berre PART 1:    AFRICAN MODERNISM Karl Henrik Nøstvik: Remnants of Nordic Aid Nina Berre Africa’s ‘Lone Star’: Building ‘New Liberia’ in the Context of Post-war Africa Iga Perzyna Countryside Reconstruction in Postcolonial Africa: The Ujamaa Experience Karl Otto Ellefsen Technocratic Colonial Housing Policies and Reductive Modernism in Eastlands, Nairobi Peter Makachia Transnational Exchanges in Postcolonial Zambia: School Buildings at the Intersection of Architectural, Political and Economic Globalization Kim De Raedt Forms of Freedom: Soviet Gifts in Postcolonial Kenya Ruth Prince Georg Lippsmeier and His Tropenbau: Salesmanship and Pragmatic Modernism Antoni Folkers Israel/Africa: The Laboratories of (Post)colonial Modernity Haim Yacobi ‘Tout le Congo est un Chantier’: Notes on the Archive of a (Post)colonial Construction Firm Johan Lagae and Robby Fivez INTERLUDE             Remnants of Nordic Aid in Africa: The Zambia World Bank Educational Projects Mette Tronvoll             Remnants of Nordic Aid in Africa: The KICC & Fishery Station by Architect Karl Henrik Nøstvik in Africa Iwan Baan PART 2:    AFTERLIVES ‘Kenya Grew from Here’: Property and History in a Nairobi Housing Estate Constance Smith Grave Reservations: Nigerian Literature and ‘European Reservations’ during Decolonization Tim Livsey The Legacy of Nordic Expertise in Postcolonial Housing Schemes in Nairobi Tom J. C. Anyamba Privatization and the Reshaping of the Recreational Landscape of the Industrial Zambian Copperbelt Patience Mususa The Ruins of Turkana: An Archaeology of Failed Development in Northern Kenya Samuel F. Derbyshire and Lucas Lowasa The Brand New Ruins of Public Health: A Tale of Two Buildings, Kinshasa, DRC Guillaume Lachenal ‘Is This Anthropology Really a Modern Subject?’: Kenyan Students’ Experience of Nairobi’s (Changing) University Architectures Ida Skjong Grøvik Laboratory Unbuilt: An Architectural Biography of Postcolonial Science in East Africa Paul Wenzel Geissler Epilogue          Buildings and People: Interdisciplinarity, Juxtaposition and Experimentation Paul Wenzel Geissler and Johan Lagae Notes on Contributors  

'Tracing concrete connections between architecture and anthropology, African Modernism and Its Afterlives offers glimpses of past futures, half-remembered dreams and enduring structures. Engaging and ever clear-eyed, its chapters provide a trenchant guide to 20th century efforts to alter African social life through building, along with the artefacts they left behind.' Peter Redfield, University of Southern California