This panel brings together historians of architecture and the built environment to explore the use—and abuse—of media in 20th-century development politics, geographically ranging from South America to Africa and Asia. Each of the six participants will offer a five-minute presentation on one medium they encountered in the field or the archives, and discuss how media techniques and their limitations shaped development discourses and practices.

The presentations will be followed by a moderated discussion grounded on two to three questions that will discuss media biases and limitations, the historiographical problems that arise from the use of media as evidence, as well as the role of international organizations and private institutions in shaping those documentation practices. We will open the floor to a larger conversation involving the audience after 15 to 20 minutes. The goal is to demonstrate how media influenced the establishment of development institutions and actors, the educational structures, contents as well as subjectivities, and ultimately the formation of archives and what we know about development today.

Panelists
Ateya Khorakiwala, Ph.D., Assistant Professor at Columbia GSAPP
Elis Mendoza, Doctoral Candidate at Princeton University School of Architecture
Ginger Nolan, Ph.D., Assistant Professor at USC School of Architecture
Nushelle de Silva, Doctoral Candidate at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Ikem Stanley Okoye, Ph.D., Associate Professor at University of Delaware

Wednesday, June 7, 2023
12:00–1:30 pm CDT

Register: https://www.sah.org/conferences-and-programs/sah-connects/2023/architecture-and-the-media-of-development