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79778-01 - Seminar: Architecture and Colonialism: The Cases of Palestine and Algeria (3 CP)
| Semester | fall semester 2026 |
| Course frequency | Once only |
| Lecturers | Nama'a Qudah (namaa.qudah@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | This course investigates architecture as a critical instrument of colonial power, examining how the built environment is mobilized to dominate territory, control populations, and legitimize occupation. By situating spatial practices within broader systems of settler colonialism, in both Algeria and Palestine, we explore how infrastructure, borders, and urban form facilitate land domination, resource extraction and the marginalization of Indigenous presence; how local architectural practices, rooted in climate, material, and social structures, were suppressed by foreign colonial impositions. Grounded in the relationship between land and Indigenous knowledge, the course interrogates the erasure of this knowledge while highlighting hybrid spatial practices that adapt and resist within colonial frameworks. By centering lived experience and local perspectives, we challenge depoliticized representations of space. Students will develop a critical vocabulary to understand architecture not merely as a material artifact, but as a political practice entangled with memory, identity, and power, offering essential insights for rethinking urbanism in the Global South and beyond. The course combines lectures and close readings of historical texts with the analysis of architectural drawings, maps, films, and archival artworks. This method challenges students to move beyond the aesthetic surface of buildings to decode the spatial maneouvers of colonial power. The course culminates into two complementary projects: a Glossary and a Site. The first project tasks students with deconstructing the language of power, requiring them to critically define and visualize terms like orientalism and settler colonialism to challenge the flattening of indigenous histories. The second project moves to the ground, requiring an in-depth spatial analysis of a specific site in Algeria or Palestine, ranging from refugee camps to infrastructure projects. By utilizing mapping and photography to narrate these sites as points of both domination and resistance, students will learn how to translate abstract theories into tangible architectural critiques. |
| Learning objectives | 1. Critical Understanding of Colonial and Postcolonial Architecture Students will be able to analyze how architecture and urbanism have been mobilized as tools of colonial power, domination, and social control, as well as how these practices persist in postcolonial and ongoing settler-colonial contexts. 2. Engagement with Indigenous and Local Spatial Knowledge Students will demonstrate the ability to recognize, interpret, and critically reflect on Indigenous and local architectural practices, understanding how these knowledge systems have been suppressed, adapted, or resisted within colonial frameworks. 3. Comparative and Contextual Analysis Students will develop skills to compare and contextualize colonial and postcolonial spatial practices across different geographies and time periods, specifically between Algeria and Palestine, identifying both historical continuities and contemporary transformations. 4. Critical Reflection on Knowledge Production Students will evaluate how Western academic and orientalist frameworks have shaped understandings of colonized regions, interrogating whose perspectives are centered or marginalized, and developing a critical stance toward dominant narratives in architectural scholarship. 5. Visual and Representational Skills as Analytical Tools Students will be able to conduct research and convey complex political, social, and historical processes through visual methods – including drawing, mapping, photography, and other representational techniques – demonstrating the ability to translate critical inquiry into spatial and architectural narratives. |
| Comments | The course is open to Master students from other programs with a priority for MA Students in Critical Urbanisms and in Changing Societies on timely registration. Max. capacity 20. |
| Admission requirements | Anmelden: Belegen ; Abmelden: nicht erforderlich |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | No specific media used |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
| wöchentlich | Thursday | 14.15-16.00 | Kollegienhaus, Seminarraum 103 |
Dates
| Date | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday 24.09.2026 | 14.15-16.00 | Kollegienhaus, Seminarraum 103 |
| Thursday 01.10.2026 | 14.15-16.00 | Kollegienhaus, Seminarraum 103 |
| Thursday 08.10.2026 | 14.15-16.00 | Kollegienhaus, Seminarraum 103 |
| Thursday 15.10.2026 | 14.15-16.00 | Kollegienhaus, Seminarraum 103 |
| Thursday 22.10.2026 | 14.15-16.00 | Kollegienhaus, Seminarraum 103 |
| Thursday 29.10.2026 | 14.15-16.00 | Kollegienhaus, Seminarraum 103 |
| Thursday 05.11.2026 | 14.15-16.00 | Kollegienhaus, Seminarraum 103 |
| Thursday 12.11.2026 | 14.15-16.00 | Kollegienhaus, Seminarraum 103 |
| Thursday 19.11.2026 | 14.15-16.00 | Kollegienhaus, Seminarraum 103 |
| Thursday 26.11.2026 | 14.15-16.00 | Kollegienhaus, Seminarraum 103 |
| Thursday 03.12.2026 | 14.15-16.00 | Kollegienhaus, Seminarraum 103 |
| Thursday 10.12.2026 | 14.15-16.00 | Kollegienhaus, Seminarraum 103 |
| Thursday 17.12.2026 | 14.15-16.00 | Kollegienhaus, Seminarraum 103 |
| Modules |
Modul: Transfer: Europa interdisziplinär (Master's degree program: European History in Global Perspective) Module: Europeanization and Globalization (Master's Studies: European Global Studies) Module: Fields: Media and Imagination (Master's degree program: African Studies) Module: The Urban across Disciplines (Master's degree program: Critical Urbanisms) Module: Topics in Near & Middle Eastern Studies (Master's degree subject: Near & Middle Eastern Studies) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | Pass / Fail |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | no repetition |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Fachbereich Urban Studies |