Roof politics: the materiality of interpellation
Name
Roof politics the materiality of interpellation.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
2.27 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
f741c5788228f69a093327e4c5a35494
Author(s)
Wendel, Delia Duong Ba
Date Issued
February 17, 2023
Journal
The Journal of Architecture
Publisher
Informa UK Limited
Citation
Wendel, D. D. B. (2023). Roof politics: the materiality of interpellation. The Journal of Architecture, 28(2), 284–309.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
In 2010, the Rwandan government rolled out a mandatory roof modernisation programme to replace grass thatch on every house and outbuilding in Rwanda. The initiative was ostensibly one of shelter modernisation, but rather more embedded in post-genocide nation and peace building. The paper considers Louis Althusser’s concept of ‘interpellation’ as a useful framework for understanding how the Rwandan government established relationships between architectural aesthetics, sovereignty, and peace. Ethnographic research with state ministries and interviews with rural residents reveal the ideological basis for those connections — how aesthetics regulated values and the reception of the programme by ordinary Rwandans. Historical research substantiates the persistent use of architecture aesthetics as a medium of interpellation mobilised previously in the name of morality, health, and modernity, and most recently, peace.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1080/13602365.2023.2192756
