I might migrate the old blog here. or not.
Were There Architects in Ghana Before the Mid-20th Century? Overlooked Histories of Architects and Architecture in the Gold Coast/ Ghana (Part 2)
Scholars have tended to focus on a small number of UK- and US-trained architects as the first Ghanaian architects. But should the claim that there were “no formally qualified West African architects… available” (Turner, 2024) in the country be taken at face value, be accepted uncritically, and be repeated?
Were There Architects in Ghana Before the Mid-20th Century? Overlooked Histories of Architects and Architecture in the Gold Coast/ Ghana (Part 1)
I am making a series of posts on this blog about overlooked African and African-descended architects and architecture before the mind-twentieth century. I focus on the geographical area that is now Ghana, but due to pre-colonial configurations I will occasionally discuss people and work in other countries.
John Mensah Sarbah Laments The Loss of West African Archives
Long long long before my Accra Archive project, before Judith Opoku-Boateng set out on her career path in archival studies, before Anita Afonu was inspired to preserve Ghanaian film archives, and before all of us Ghanaian archivists, historians, and memory workers were even a twinkle in our mothers’ eyes, John Mensah Sarbah lamented on the loss of West African historical records.
AFRICA ARCHITECTURE WATCH
