Employment-tied housing in (post)colonial Africa

Conference, Copenhagen, December 2019

Between the 5th and 6th of December 2019 Kirsten participated at the Conference "Ideological Resonances", organised by the Middle Class Urbanism Project (MCU) at the National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen. She held a presentation on "The ideology of minimum requirements, Or, Do African dwellers need an address?". MCU-LINK

Conference, Naples, October 2019

On the 17th of Oct. 2019 Daniela participated in the "Study Day: LUBUMBASHI TODAY: LANGUAGES, ARTS AND SOCIETY" organized by the "Dipartimento Asia, Africa e Mediterraneo" of the University of Naples "L'Orientale" and presented on "Experiences with “shared authority” with ex-mineworkers of the Départs Volontaire (ODV) in Lubumbashi (DR Congo)"

Conference, Lubumbashi July 2019

Carl and Daniela participated at the Comparing the Copperbelt-Conference organized by Oxford University and held at the University of Lubumbashi on 23rd and 24th of July. Carl and Daniela presented their ongoing project of shared authority and shared videography. Read more ...

Fieldtrip, Lubumbashi July 2019

From the 6th to the 28th of July 2019 Carl-Philipp Bodenstein and Daniela Waldburger went to Lubumbashi. In collaboration with the Centre d’Art Waza Daniela shared and discussed her research findings based on the interviews led in 2017 and 2018 with the ex-workers of the Gécamines (now members of ODV (Opération Départ Volontaire)). Her idea was to work with a more including model of research in the theories of human sciences, thus the approach of “shared authority”. Since 2014, the Waza Art Center has been exploring ways to apply this concept in creative production and research projects. For Mitaani #mapping Moments, Waza and Daniela explored the notion of shared authority with its possibilities and limits. A series of filmed meetings called Baraza were conducted throughout the week with the group of ex-workers. To report on the Baraza process between Daniela's research and "voluntary departures", a joint video project was being conducted jointly by two videographers Carl-Philipp Bodenstein and Gulda El Magambo (Lubumbashi).

Workshop, Vienna February 2019

On 21 and 22 February Kirsten participated in a two-day workshop entitled "Zwischenräume als Perspektive und Gegenstand kulturwissenschaftlicher Stadtforschung” organized by the Department of European Ethnology at the University of Vienna. As you can see, the department is located in a very prestigious building typical of Vienna's 19th-century bourgeois architecture. Her presentation dealt with rent for municipal housing and colonialism in Zambia. The workshop welcomed a number of international guests; to view the full program please click here. 

Lissabon Conference, January 2019

In January 2019, Carl presented a paper entitled “Divided Urbanism - On the Spatial Production of Transportation Infrastructures in Livingstone during Late Colonialism” at the International Congress Colonial and Postcolonial Landscapes: Architecture, Cities, Infrastructures in Lissabon. His paper focused on modes and structures of segregation and exclusion with respect to public transportation infrastructures in Livingstone. For more information and detailed program click here. 

Research Stay at ZMO

In November 2018,  Kirsten undertook a one month research fellowship stay on housing at the Centre for Modern Oriental Studies (ZMO) in Berlin. She used her teaching-free time to analyse her field research findings, and to work on her publications. 

4th Ethno Labs

Together with the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology and the Platform for Mobile Cultures and Societies we participated at the 4th Ethnographic Laboratories in Vienna: "Infrastructures: Imagination, Materiality, Process". Between September 26 and 28, 13 young scholars together with two guests - Jörg Niewöhner (Humboldt University, Berlin) and Antina von Schnitzler (The New School, NY) - discussed their work in progress. 

Between August 29 and September 1, Carl participated at the 14th Conference of European Association for Urban History in Rome. He presented his preliminary research findings under the title "Congo Housing is for ‘Well-To-Do’ - Debates About the Application of the Elisabethville Housing Scheme in Northern Rhodesia as a  Symptom of Colonial Uncertainty" in the panel "Planning cities, making places (from 19th to 21st century)".

2.0 Lu'shi research

In August 2018, Daniela returned to Cite Gécamines in Lubumbashi, DRC. She was warmly welcomed by the former workers of Gécamines, with whom she conducted numerous qualitative interviews in Swahili last year. During her second research stay, the workers opened their homes and houses to Daniela and she was able to gain further invaluable insights on their living and housing conditions.

2.0 Zambia research

During his return research trip to Zambia, from March to June 2018, Carl deepened his knowledge and extended his pilot findings from the previous year. Based on the insights gained from conducted interviews and collected archival materials, he used this stay mostly to fill in the gaps and remove any outstanding ambiguities. In addition, he conducted further numerous interviews with house dwellers in Livingstone.

'Congo Conference' in Oxford

On 26 and 27 April 2018 the Congo Research Network Conference was held at St Antony's College at the University of Oxford. Daniela presented her first findings under the title "Kazi na kuwa mfanyakazi  - c’était bien à l’époque – conception of work and life by Gécamines workers’ in Lubumbashi" in the panel "Worker housing in Congo. A comparison in past and present". The conference brought together junior and senior scholars across the humanities and social sciences, sharing a common interest in the DRC.

Field research in Kenya

During her field research stay in Kenya in Spring 2018, Martina focused on the ‘owner-occupier’ Vasey Housing Scheme launched as pilot scheme in Thika in 1951.  The immediate objective of the Colonial Government while initiating this ‘sites and services scheme’ was to promote stability and to create a responsible African middle class. The scheme has proved to be an experimental blue-print for the whole colony. Martina also conducted qualitative interviews with tenants of Vasey scheme (nowadays Majengo) in Thika. 

Archival research in Brussels

In February 2018 Daniela continued to scour the state archives in Brussels and the library of Contemporary History of the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Tervuren for minutes, reports, statistics, photographs, company journals, etc. of the Union Minière du Haut-Katanga and Gécamines concentrating on decisions and policies regarding housing and conditioning measures of the workers. 

Field research in L'shi, DRC

In the summer of 2017 Daniela conducted dozens of qualitative interviews with former employees of UMHK in Cité Gécamines and Makomeno neighbourhoods in Lubumbashi.

By combining historical and contemporary approaches, she gained invaluable insights into their past and present working and housing situation. 

Field research in Zambia

Over a period of four months (March to June 2017) Carl divided his research time in Zambia between the National Archives  in Lusaka and conducting interviews with town dwellers in neighborhoods of Livingstone.

To complement her findings on the official perspective of the Colonial Office gained in Kew, Kirsten, a passionate historian, dedicated her energy entirely to archival research in Lusaka. 

Archival research in Kew, UK

Digging through endless archival records, including memoranda, ordinances, pamphlets, statistics, and meeting notes, Martina and Kirsten concentrated on British colonial housing and labour policies in Kenya and Zambia from 1940s to 1960s. Going beyond their individual case studies, they discovered a transfer of ideas, designs, concepts, experts, policies and practices across regions and continents. 

Our lecture series

In winter term 2017 we organised a lecture series entitled 'Housing for workers (and others) in African Cities.' We welcomed Luce Beeckmans, Cristina Rodrigues, Robert Home and Garth Myers as our guest speakers. For details on their presentation topics click here.  

Housing workshop

In November 2017 we held our first three-day core workshop in Vienna. With participants from three continents we discussed colonial and post-colonial housing in interdisciplinary perspective. For more details and detailed program of the workshop please click here. 

Brainstorming retreat

To reflect upon our impressions, ideas, and all gathered data in the first six months of our project we found retreat at the beautiful Austrian Attersee. For two cold November days we intensely discussed and exchanged our preliminary findings and planned our activities for the coming two years. 

Conference, Naples, October 2019

On the 17th of Oct. 2019 Daniela participated in the "Study Day: LUBUMBASHI TODAY: LANGUAGES, ARTS AND SOCIETY" organized by the "Dipartimento Asia, Africa e Mediterraneo" of the University of Naples "L'Orientale" and presented on "Experiences with “shared authority” with ex-mineworkers of the Départs Volontaire (ODV) in Lubumbashi (DR Congo)"

Conference, Berlin, November 2018

In November 2018, Daniela will participate in the "Big Cities, Small Languages" international conference in Berlin organised by the SOAS World Languages Institute (UK), Mercator Research Centre, the Interdisciplinary Centre for Social and Language Documentation and the Leibniz-Zentrum Allgemeine Sprachwissenschaft (ZAS). 

Conference, Oxford, April 2018

In April 2018, Daniela presented her first findings at the Congo Research Network Conference at the University of Oxford. The title of her paper was Kazi na kuwa mfanyakazi  - c’était bien à l’époque – conception of work and life by Gécamines workers’ in Lubumbashi. 

14th EAUH Conference, Rome, August - September 2018

Carl Bodenstein participated at the 14th Conference European Association for Urban History in Rome. He presented a paper under the title "Congo Housing is for ‘Well-To-Do’ - Debates About the Application of the Elisabethville Housing Scheme in Northern Rhodesia as a  Symptom of Colonial Uncertainty". Program pdf.

Conference, VAD Leipzig, June 2018

In June 2018 we participated at the 'African Connections' conference of the Association 
of African Studies in Germany (Vereinigung für Afrikawissenschaften in 
Deutschland/VAD e.V.) in Leipzig. 

Convention, Vienna, April 2018

Kirsten and Daniela held a practical workshop on how to successfully apply for research projects within the framework of the convention Zugänge zu Forschungen über/in Afrika 4. Tagung des Netzwerks „Afrikaforschung in Österreich“ organised at the Department of African Studies at the University of Vienna. Program in pdf.