The University of Oklahoma Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture is pleased to host a guest lecture by Dr. Itohan Osayimwese, Associate Professor of the History of Art & Architecture and affiliate faculty in Africana Studies, Urban Studies, and the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at Brown University.
Dr. Osayimwese’s lecture, entitled “What is Decolonial Architectural History?,” will place on Monday, April 19, 2021, via Zoom from 12:00 – 1:30 p.m.
Pablo Picasso, Minnette de Silva, Jo Davidson, and Mulk Raj Anand at the World Congress of Intellectuals in Defense of Peace, Wroclaw, 1948.
Dr. Osayimwese’s lecture, “What is Decolonial Architectural History?,” was recorded and can now be viewed through YouTube.
Itohan Osayimwese is Associate Professor of the History of Art & Architecture and affiliate faculty in Africana Studies, Urban Studies, and the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at Brown University. Her research engages with theories of modernity, postcolonialism, and globalization to analyze built and designed environments in nineteenth and twentieth-century East and West Africa, the Anglo-Caribbean, and Germany. Her book, Colonialism and Modern Architecture in Germany (Pittsburgh, 2017), received a 2016 Society of Architectural Historians/Mellon Foundation award. Her work has also been published in the Journal of Architecture, Journal of Architectural Education, Architectural Theory Review, Traditional Dwelling and Settlements Review, Perspecta, Thresholds, African Art, ABE Journal, and Dwell magazine. Prior to Brown University, she taught at Ithaca College, College of William & Mary, and University of Washington, Seattle. She has received fellowships from the Canadian Center for Architecture, Graham Foundation for the Fine Arts, Andrew Mellon Foundation, Social Sciences Research Council, Gerda Henkel Foundation, and German Academic Exchange Service. She is the 2020 recipient of the Schelling Foundation Prize for Architectural Theory, and serves on the board of directors of the Society of Architectural Historians, the European Architectural History Network, and Thresholds Journal. She holds a Ph.D. in the history and theory of architecture from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, an M. Arch. from Rice University, and B.A. from Bryn Mawr College. Her current book projects explore migration, property, and emancipation in the Anglo-Caribbean; the problem of translation in the historiography of African architecture; a global history of race and architecture.
This event is made possible by the Bruce Goff Chair of Creative Architecture endowment. Please contact Dr. Stephanie Pilat with questions about the event (spilat@ou.edu).
The Gibbs Design in Action Awards (GDAA) program, led by Dr. Wanda Liebermann, has announced its 2026–2027 funded student projects. The initiative supports design and research work that addresses social, cultural, and economic issues in the built environment through collaboration with faculty and community partners.
The OU Institute for Quality Communities (IQC) 2024 collaboration with the Historic Threatt Filling Station has been recognized in the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City's newly released Byways Report: The Scenic Route to Rural Prosperity – a story-driven publication exploring how road trip culture and place-based tourism can fuel economic growth in rural communities.
The Gibbs College of Architecture is pleased to announce that Camille Germany, Chief of Staff, has been named the 2026 recipient of the university-wide Jennifer L. Wise Good Stewardship Award.
