When we decide to approach architecture as “the discipline that organizes bodies in space,” countless texts can be commissioned and written about how architecture materializes various forms of political violence. Yet, it is much harder to articulate a tactical ‘positive’ discourse about political architectures as we propose to do throughout this issue, as part of our 2019 series dedicated to various dimensions of political struggles. Insurgent Architectures are architectures that fundamentally challenge the dominant order, materializing a resistance against imperialism (Feda Wardak), border enforcement (Merve Bedir, Noora Aljabi), capitalism (Niloufar Tajeri, Santiago Cirugeda), and/or patriarchy (Feminist Architecture Collaborative, Alina da Porciuncula Paias). Student projects are designed by Mohamad Nahleh, Ida Razak, and Terrence Mkhwanazi.
As for the News from the Fronts section, it includes a poetic historical account of colonial Brazil (Mariana de Matos), the violence of gentrification in Oakland (Kerby Lynch), and two articles on diasporas from the point of view of language between Eritrea and Sweden (Makda Embaie) and of revolution between Algeria and France (Kenza Talmat).