The past few years have brought the necessity of theory as liberatory practice to the foreground of discussions on architecture. The interconnected crises of war, enforced migrations, global warming, and structural inequality have put pressure on how we understand what architecture is and does. These events have highlighted the role of architecture in the rise of land dispossession, material extraction, labor struggle, and conflicting epistemologies. Thinking with bell hooks, the course reframes architectural theory as a liberatory practice. Thinking with Manfredo Tafuri, we respond to these challenges by rethinking architecture’s position within the relations of production.

In this course we examine contemporary spatial thinking through four interrelated topics: lands, materials, labors, and knowledges.