Colonial Entanglements and Decolonizing Strategies

As a marker within territory, architecture stakes a claim over that territory on behalf of those who design and build. In Canada, this dynamic inscribed colonial powers onto the land in the wake of Indigenous dispossession, and this architecture is often celebrated as reflective of settler nationhood. Yet other architectures also emerge out of this colonial past: those specifically constructed to further Canada’s attempts to assimilate First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities into the dominant culture. In June 2016, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of Canada released 94 Calls to Action to redress the legacy of residential schools and the state’s long history of other oppressive practices against Indigenous peoples. The TRC did not, however, comment on architecture and design, yet these practices have undoubtedly played a significant role in the settler-Indigenous relationship. How can architecture, as a discipline, become re-indigenized and more equitable? How can non-indigenous architects, designers, and architectural historians contribute to projects of decolonization and social responsibility in productive ways, without appropriating the cultures and efforts of Indigenous peoples in these fields? In what ways can architectural history and complex historic sites benefit from the concept of decolonization? This session will explore Canadian architecture in the (post)colonial context, thinking through the ways that architecture has been used to further colonization and examining what decolonization can mean in the fields of architecture, history, and theory today.