Ruins are ubiquitous in the African continent. These ruins can be of a collapsed regime, mode of living, or the debris of contemporary projects related to \u201cAfrica rising\u201d discourses (McKenzie 2016). They can also stem from past colonial interventions, modernisation, development projects, socialism, neoliberalism, and other political regimes resulting in disruptions in the natural, social, political, and cultural realms that constitute today\u2019s lives in the continent. Such disruptions are further intensified and caused by climate change, which some scholars have proposed to call the Anthropocene to foreground the fact that humans have become a major force shifting the Earth\u2019s climate away from the Holocene (Crutzen 2006) resulting in extreme weather events, biodiversity loss, and a planetary crisis, which affect mostly poor countries.<\/p>\n
As Ann Stoler reminds us, \u201c[\u2026] ruination is more than a process that sloughs off debris as a by-product. It is a political project that lays waste to certain peoples, relations, and things that accumulate in specific places (Stoler 2008, 11). The Anthropocene nature, the built environment, and its peripheries are all in fact, active archives (Tsing et al. 2017; Lyons 2020) that evidence histories of violence (Nixon 2011) and loss (Harvey 2017). These political projects have left and are still leaving ruins. Some of these traces are appear and others invisible, and impose new topographies, temporalities, and subjectivities. While we are reminded that ruination results in geographies of exclusion, marginalization, displacements, and degradation, we also underscore, that the effects of ruination also invite us to look at them as spaces of creativity and political mobilization (Edensor 2005).<\/p>\n
Africa\u2019s ruined landscapes call for a close examination and documentation of the numerous remains of various political projects. Here we emphasise what Anna Tsing calls the \u201carts of noticing\u201d that make visible the complex web of relations between all elements of life (Tsing, 2017). To accomplish that, we believe that a critical understanding of our problematic inheritances \u2014here also referred to as traces\u2014is needed.<\/p>\n
\u201cTracing\u201d has various meanings. A trace can be a mark that was made by a recording device such as GIS, a camera, a voice recorder, carbon dating, a microscope, etc., or by something that already passed, a sign or evidence of some past thing (1) that persists. A trace can be read as a brief period, a minute, moreover, it can be material and immaterial. \u201cTracing,\u201d in contrast, is an active foraging of marking the remains, intentionally highlighting the significance from the surface. Tracing is engaging with the present and having multiple worlds prevailing. Tracing is not only about recording the manifestation of the past in the present but is also a form of communicating and political engagement.<\/p>\n
The panel also seeks to showcase the ways of researching beyond sight, as many fragments of knowledge are not easily seen. Grounded in environmental and interdisciplinary perspectives that consider the interconnectedness of ground, soil, water, air, and materials, this panel welcomes papers centred on employing creative methodologies to trace ruination. We aim to expand the methodological discourse, and by then to critically engage with our surroundings \u2013 unravel the layers of history that often go unnoticed. Through \u201cother\u201d practices, one can uncover the imprints of past events and human interventions on and with the landscape.<\/p>\n
Footnotes:
\n(1) Merriam-Webster. n.d.. Trace. In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved May 08, 2024, from https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/trace.
\n(2) Igwe works with her body, archives and narratives, both oral and textual, acting as a mode of enquiry that makes possible the exposition of overlooked histories. Her film from 2020, No Archive Can Restore You, engaged with the former Nigerian Film Unit building in Lagos and its particular state of decay.
\n(3) In his film Uppland, he explores the invisible, beyond the colonial frame, using memory, voice and absence to reveal the present deprivations of Yekepa, an abandoned mining town in Liberia.
\n(4) African Digital Heritage is a Nairobi-based non-profit organisation working to advance a more critical approach to digital solutions within African heritage. africandigitalheritage.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This panel seeks to explore the prevalence of ruins across the African continent, highlighting their significance as repositories of historical narratives and environmental changes. It proposes a shift in perspective towards considering ruins not only as man-made structures but also as traces of anthropocentric interventions, including environmental changes. The panel advocates for a methodological rethinking grounded in interdisciplinary perspectives, emphasizing the interconnectedness between humans and their environments. It calls for creative methodologies that uncover hidden layers of history and reimagine human-nature relationships amidst environmental challenges. Drawing on the concept of “tracing,” the panel encourages active engagement with the present environment; ground, soil, water, air, and other materials, and its communication of political narratives.
\nExamples of innovative research methods, such as hydrophonic sound recordings and three-dimensional reconstructions based on oral histories and memories, underscore the importance of expanding research beyond sight. By showcasing creative approaches to investigating the afterlives of political projects in Africa, the panel aspires to contribute to a holistic understanding of the continent’s historical landscape tapestry.
\nThe panel invites contributions that explore Africa’s rich historical heritage and the complexities of its socio-environmental dynamics by delving into neglected layers of ruinations and examining the intricate relationships between humans and their surroundings. By uncovering these overlooked aspects, we aim to provide a platform for an extended discussion about Africa’s past and present, highlighting the interconnectedness between the past interventions and the environments they inhabit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":2639,"template":"","congreso":[91],"class_list":["post-2638","panel","type-panel","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","congreso-ciea12-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/redestudiosafricanos.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/panel\/2638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/redestudiosafricanos.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/panel"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/redestudiosafricanos.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/panel"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redestudiosafricanos.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/105"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/redestudiosafricanos.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/panel\/2638\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5560,"href":"https:\/\/redestudiosafricanos.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/panel\/2638\/revisions\/5560"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redestudiosafricanos.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/redestudiosafricanos.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"congreso","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/redestudiosafricanos.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/congreso?post=2638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}