This year, the JWTC July Workshop hosted its first
participant from Pakistan. Zahra Hussein studied architecture at Goldsmiths
College, London, with Eyal Weizman. She went back to Pakistan where she is
conducting a research on drone attacks, architecture and the law. She speaks to
The Blog.
You attended your first session of
the JWTC. How did you hear about the JWTC and what are the reasons that led you
to apply to the 2012 Session?
I met Professor Achille Mbembe last year in
London where he came to deliver a lecture at Birbeck College. I
introduced myself and told him about my work. I was then conducting
research on the architecture of counter-insurgency in Pakistan. He showed great
interest in my research and, after further intellectual exchange,
I learnt about his and his colleagues work especially regarding the JWTC.
Learning more about the JWTC, it immediately became clear to me which to
me that this
platform presented an alternative intellectual
position removed from the ordinary East-West dichotomy
that is so dominant in South Asia.
What are the events in this year's
program that you enjoyed the most and why?
I really liked how the art shows were made part of
the intellectual rationale of the workshop and curated. They were
not conceived of as an illustration of theory. They were themselves
instances of theory, modes of discourse and argumentation in their own
right. They also made for lively viewing and constituted a powerful
counterpoint to the entire experience. The first morning, we were taken for a
tour of Johannesburg. The introduction to this major Southern Hemispheric
city laid out information in a particular sequence and connected the
historical strands to form a complete picture for the audience.
You were coming to Johannesburg for
the first time. What are the features of the city that have been the most
striking for you?
Johannesburg is, in a word, awesome. It is unlike
many cities in Pakistan and yet, here and there, there are so many parallels.
The fast evolution of the city and the social energy it generates -
all of this is quite simply astounding. Of very particular interest is the
fact that this peculiar city is very much constituted by what lies beneath
its soil. The various forms of spatial segregations, whether based
on class, race or otherwise, can still be mapped out easily. I was
particularly interested in how segregation and security now morph into each
other.
You just completed an important research
on the architecture of counter-insurgency in Pakistan. What does the theme
"Futures of Nature" may add to your topic?
Natural and climatic disasters present an
intriguing parallel to (counter) insurgencies. They both affect and are
themselves affected by space. They are both forms of agency. So while the
titles of both topics might seem somewhat unrelated, there are actually many
interweaving threads of inquiry linking them.
What are you currently working on and
why?
I am currently involved with the Centre for
Research Architecture. This is a fully-funded European Research Council
project. We are doing research on the ways in which human rights are
played out in the realm of architecture and the law. Alongside other
things, we are currently looking at the drone attacks in Northwest Pakistan. Typically
we examine situations (human rights violations) in which there is a high degree
of spatial complexity due to a variety of factors (access to the space
geographically, complex micro-infrastructures, diffusion of munitions used in
perpetrating the violation etc.). We then map and model these situations in
order to re-create a chain of events in relationship to a set of legal
questions.
