Technologies of "Civilization": Building the Sierra Leone Colony (NYC)
Architectural History and Theory Lecture In his lecture, Jonah Rowen discusses the role of architecture and building in the Sierra Leone colony, a for-profit venture pitched as a conscientious alternative to Caribbean colonies: sugar grown independent of enslavement. Formerly enslaved Black refugees from the U.S. War of Independence were met with building materials prepared in England for assembly on sites "leased" from the local Temne people, in the hopes of exporting valuable commodities to global markets. He analyzes the architectural technologies of mobility, transportation, and remote assembly that were becoming essential to the rapidly accelerating commercial world. Introduction and Moderation Marta Caldeira Assistant Professor, School of Architecture and DesignView Bio (https://www.nyit.edu/bio/marta-caldeira/) Speaker Jonah Rowen Assistant Professor of Art, Art and Urban Studies Departments Vassar Jonah Rowen is a historian of architecture whose research focuses on intersections between craft, technologies, construction, economics—materials, supply chains, labor—and environments. His book, forthcoming with the Omohundro Institute for Early American History and Culture (UNC Press), is titled Architecture of Security: Building across the British Black Atlantic . His research draws on archives in the Caribbean, West Africa, and the United Kingdom. He devotes special attention to architectural drawings, in addition to business records and correspondence from architects, builders, engineers, fabricators, and insurance agents. Focusing on the frame of the Atlantic World, he traces the movement of objects and people to analyze the technologies and artifacts of an emergent global capitalism. Register (https://apps.nyit.edu/forms/event-rsvp?e=OXLPul0opKdq2MGMSZ9tN85Qx4LiZMTa1x4vht6dsuRnRhkAIp4DxgE6GkTXD1oZVVj3xHc1x447MSrIhZdj1yFYa0gDGwGqzU2tA7Y%2FYDjx857r1ReQbKZY4NNsx2Rz0MTGvpjVB9L7TZWa8qARK4e3cGxvTpenTJRsKD7cXdU3k1hGm78UZvOZOFg4EeNjGkJt%2B%2BiTO3t45niUbouScec65kKtNrI0EINrBNYYKkG2q31mb2u1zzEymb8lFx1ELrAZiOS2EuPJAVazum0ZHCUbMygvuyoLkoJAu69xQ4o%2FCe4WbIHxfIBCQMQvbzURw%2B3ua%2FjHnCeQKQHy2YUKTWDn%2B52bZdABX3nNf9wvhEKy3EkvdQeNImb43ze29Uuu)
