Summary

The spatial dimension of colonialism is a topic frequently addressed by architectural historians, who examine the finished buildings as evidence of the historical processes at work. However, the construction sites themselves were the setting for significant interactions between people, skills, materials, and technologies. Despite the ephemeral nature of these spaces, they exhibited a significant cosmopolitan dimension that has yet to be fully elucidated. What were the dynamics of interaction between laborers from disparate backgrounds and with different agendas? What construction skills and technologies were considered in the process? What was the impact of these interactions on the relationship between tradition, cosmopolitanism, and colonialism?

This session on Colonial Building Sites: Labour, Skills and Construction Technologies encompasses a diverse range of temporal and geographical contexts, including examples from Africa and Asia. The aim is to facilitate a more nuanced and intricate comprehension of the construction site as a pivotal space that simultaneously supported and challenged colonialism across time and space.

The contributions will include questions about authorship, construction materials and methods, design, architectural modernity, the coexistence of multiple skill sets, recruitment and urban unrest, the transfer of knowledge, and the dynamics of expertise.

Presentations

• Sidh Losa Mendiratta (CES-UC); Giuseppe Resta (FAUP) & Cláudia Duarte (FAUP): Building Old Goa: Identity, Patronage and Labour in Early Modern Colonial Construction Sites
• Cole Roskam (Univ. Hong Kong): Architects, Contractors, and Building Sites in Late Nineteenth-Century Anglo-China
• Robby Fivez (Vrije Universiteit Brussel) & Johan Lagae (Ghent University): Labour recruitment in the Belgian Congo: the construction of the Ango-Ango transport complex in the port city of Matadi and its aftermath
• Beatriz Serrazina (Dinâmia’CET-Iscte): Mining Labor, Housing and Building Sites in Late Colonialism across Central Africa
• Ana Vaz Milheiro (Dinâmia’CET-Iscte): On what material do you want it to be made…? Negotiations and colonial building sites in African territories under late Portuguese rule