Anthony Kalume’s Post

"Understanding the design industry as a financialized assemblage, consisting of individuals acting like investors or financial assets, and institutions akin to investment banking firms, simplifies the aforementioned question about the industry’s silence regarding Palestine. It is silent because, in the logic of finance, the risk—being accused of being “anti-Semitic,” losing access to public funds, entering actual politics instead of showcasing “political design projects”—is currently greater than the potential gain—the cultural capital from being known as an institution with political sensibility. And this is why I predict that the design industry in Europe will finally respond to the issue of Palestine when its political urgency and relevance have expired—in other words, the moment there is absolutely no risk in saying “Free Palestine,” and the moment design projects about Palestine can generate surplus value through objectification of the violence." - Thank you Noam Youngrak Son for this necessary article!!! Linkedin is the best place to spread it.

Fresh off the press! "Of Worlds and Artworks - A Relational View on Artistic Practices from Africa and the Diaspora" has just been published in the Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence series at Brill (Verlag). Edited by Ute Fendler. Marie-Anne Kohl, Gilbert Shang Ndi, Christopher Joseph Odhiambo and Clarissa Vierke (all Uni Bayreuth) the volume brings together contributions which explore artworks – including literature, visual arts, film and performances – as dynamic sites of worlding. It puts emphasis on the processes of creating or doing worlds, implying movement as opposed to the boundary drawing of area studies. From such a processual perspective, Africa is not a delineated area, but emerges in a variety of relations which can reach across the continent, but also the Indian Ocean, the Atlantic or Europe. Contributors are: Thierry Boudjekeu, Elena Brugioni, Ute Fendler, Sophie Lembcke, Gilbert Ndi Shang, Samuel Ndogo, Duncan Tarrant, Kumari Issur, CJ Odhiambo, Michaela Ott, Peter Simatei, Clarissa Vierke, Chinelo J. Enemuo. For more info please visit: https://lnkd.in/eWprpGgN #ClusterOfExcellence #AfricaMultiple #UniBayreuth #AfricanStudies #AfricanArt #ArtisticPractices

Looting of African heritage: a powerful new book explores the damage done by colonial theft https://lnkd.in/dFHKRsRn

"The Provenance Part II, is an exhibition that focuses on the preservation of Archives, looking into the deep lineage of Bantu indigeneity and Black Consciousness in South Africa that has manifested. Through themes that highlight, Textiles, Literature and Music, this body of work is forged and kindles the flame of its intellectual and creative expression. This edition of Provenance encourages a curious inquiry into the role of colonialism and mission-work in South Africa’s history, and how the introduction of certain frameworks across these three themes have become integrated into our forms of expression - always with the foundation of indigeneity at the center."

Looting of African heritage: a powerful new book explores the damage done by colonial theft #SARMBOOK6

Join us this Wednesday, 27 November 2024, 2-3pm in HBB B001 Small Lecture Theatre, Human Biology Building, University of Galway, for 'The Liminality of Space: Palestinian Bedouin at the Margins of the International Legal Order' with Ms Bana Abu Zuluf. This talk examines the evolving borders and frontiers of Israel as a settler colonial state and their impact on Palestinian Bedouin communities. Focusing on Um al Hiran, Susiya, and Khan al Ahmar, the presentation investigates how shifting borders—including settlements, zoning plans, and military zones—annihilate land and deny Palestinian existence. By integrating history, law, and geography within the frameworks of settler colonialism and governmentality, it highlights how Bedouin urbanism disrupts state-imposed boundaries. The presentation critiques the isolation of Bedouin spaces in scholarly discourse and stresses connecting Palestinian geographies. Using archival materials, court case law, and spatial analysis, it underscores the displacement realities of Bedouin communities and their resistance to the ongoing erasure.

A recent Harvard Law School and Human Rights Watch report «Destroying Cultural Heritage. Explosive Weapons’ Effects in Armed Conflict and Measures to Strengthen Protection» focuses in particular on the war in Ukraine. The authors consulted with Truth Hounds for guidance. 📎 Details: https://bit.ly/44sZalg One of the most striking examples discussed in the report is the destruction of the Donetsk Regional Academic Drama Theater in Mariupol. This theater was a major cultural landmark in the city. In March 2022, a Russian airstrike nearly obliterated the theater while hundreds of people were sheltering inside. This is detailed in a Truth Hounds report «Our city was gone» in collab with HRW and SITU Research: https://bit.ly/4ai4edG The report also details the destruction of a museum with paintings by Maria Prymachenko, crucial to Ukrainian identity.

Since working as an academic in the US since 2018, I’ve looked forward to each issue of the Journal of Architectural Education (JAE), with particular interest in the relevance, timeliness, and universal importance of the theme of each issue. This link is a call for papers for an upcoming issue of JAE, with a theme/title, "Palestine". I suggest you read the text in this link (also below), before knee-jerk commenting. I am curious to hear my network’s reflections on the language used, on how the theme is not presented by asking questions but rather with declarations, and lastly, on what issues this text raises with respect to academic freedoms and responsibilities. https://lnkd.in/ehxGjDN7

"Deportation in East Central Europe in the 20th Century: Snapshots of Invisible Incarceration" is the 13th volume in the Book Series South-East European History, edited by Mihai Dragnea and published by Peter Lang on behalf of the Balkan History Association (BHA). The volume presents a wide-ranging survey of forced deportations by totalitarian regimes in Eastern Europe throughout the 20th century. The chapters focus on deportation policies and practices among regimes in Romania, Ukraine, Albania, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Greece, and the former U.S.S.R, collectively highlighting the long-term effects of these policies and their significance to contemporary societies in Eastern Europe. Deportation was a pervasive phenomenon, with socio-economic, demographic, and political implications that have structurally affected the shape and composition of contemporary European societies. Whether considering political repression, ideological clashes, social upheavals, territorial claims, ethnic cleansing, or conflicts within and between societies, deportation was a destabilizing factor across all aspects of twentieth-century East European history. The result of a project initiated by the Association, it will be a crucial resource for researchers, educators and policy makers. https://lnkd.in/dHAFGJEf