Building the Independence

Architecture, Urban Planning and Political Thought in Senegal 1960–1989

“Building the Independence: Architecture, Urban Planning and Political Thought in Senegal 1960–1989“ focuses on the theoretical discourse on architecture and urban planning between the 1960s and the end of 1980s in the post-Independence Senegal, more specifically, on the links between the West-African Marxist political theory of the Independence era and the attempts to create new forms of architectural symbolism in that period.

Jana Ndiaye Berankova is an art and architecture theorist, philosopher, writer, and publisher. She studied art history and comparative literature at the École normale supérieure and the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (Paris, France) and architecture at Columbia University, where she completed her PhD dissertation on architecture theory and French philosophy. At the Institute, Berankova will be working on a project focusing on the theoretical discourse on architecture and urban planning between the 1960s and the end of 1980s in Senegal. Together with her husband, she founded a non-profit publishing house Suture Press focusing on carefully designed hardback books on continental philosophy, contemporary art, and architectural theory.

The Rendez-Vous de l’Institut Series is generously supported by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation. You will find a full calendar of the Fellows’ Talks.