Guest Contributions

From the Records of Loss: The Cities of the Dead Project

Ayanna Dozier — Tue, 18 May 2021 22:19:06 +0000

Loss is an integral affect for decolonization. Loss reminds us of alternative records that exceed what an institution can name and claim of a people, culture, and community. Loss scrambles the singularity of history proper as we come to know it by.

Reflections on Indigeneity in Architectural Education

David Fortin — Tue, 19 Jan 2021 19:32:34 +0000

When the McEwen School of Architecture (MSoA) opened its doors in 2013, I recall a respected Indigenous architect wondering out loud if it was appropriate to share sacred teachings with mostly non-Indigenous architecture students. It was a good question. At the time, the curriculum of the MSoA was being developed in response to Laurentian University’s “tri-cultural mandate,” itself focusing on the three largest cultural groups in northeastern Ontario (English, French and Indigenous).

After Macdonald

Ronald Rudin — Fri, 18 Dec 2020 19:36:04 +0000

In August 2020 the statue of John A. Macdonald, Canada's first Prime Minister, was toppled from its place within an elaborate, eighteen-metre-tall structure, erected in Montreal's Dominion Square (now Place du Canada) in 1895.

Ceding Control of the Syllabus: Notes on How I Struggle with Teaching

Arijit Sen — Mon, 15 Nov 2021 23:43:37 +0000

I am weary of equity statements and reading lists, handed down from Ivy League schools, making their rounds in architecture departments across the country. Every day new lists appear in my mailbox with the promise of addressing issues of racism and inequity!