Celestial Resistance

Norwegian World Bank Education Project in Zambia

Authors

  • Maryia Rusak ETH Zurich

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.59490/footprint.18.2.7082

Abstract

The essay investigates the application of cosmotechnics in architecture through a case study of a large international construction venture, the Zambia World Bank Education Project. Financed in 1969 by the World Bank together with the Norwegian Agency for International Development (NORAD), the project envisioned the construction of sixty-five new secondary schools in under four years. A Norwegian consultancy company hired for the project proposed a modular semi-industrial building system and a computer-aided system of process management that defined the project’s cosmology. Not surprisingly, expectations of a new computerised modernity did not materialise, and the project was plagued by endless problems that seemed to be divine acts of resistance to which only celestial bodies could provide a solution. However, as this essay argues, these resistances can be considered sites of rupture, where the conflict between different cosmotechnics becomes apparent.  Based on original archival documents, the essay interrogates these resistances to universalist ideas of technology and ontological assumptions embedded and perpetuated through the architecture of post-colonial “development” projects. This study serves as a first stepping stone towards further investigations into how Western homogenising technologies could be negotiated and challenged for a more pluralistic technological paradigm.  

Author Biography

Maryia Rusak, ETH Zurich

Maryia Rusak is an ETH postdoctoral fellow (2022–24) at the Chair of the History and Theory of Urban Design of Tom Avermaete. Her postdoctoral project investigates the Nordic architecture of foreign aid in postcolonial Africa, focusing on the pragmatic economic rationale behind architectural production. Prior to joining gta in 2022, Maryia completed her PhD at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design. In her research, Maryia is particularly interested in histories of everyday objects, webs of bureaucratic institutions, obscure intricacies of architectural production, and generally, how buildings are made. Her recent research has explored postcolonial narratives across cultural and geographic divides. Rusak holds an MArch in Sustainable Urban Planning and Design from KTH, Stockholm, and a BA in Architecture from Princeton University.

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Published

2025-02-10

Issue

Vol. 18 No. 2 (2024): Issue # 35 | Engaging Cosmotechnical Difference in Architecture and Urbanism: Cosmologies, Technologies, Worlds

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Article

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