Claudia Gastrow
@cgastrow.bsky.social
Assistant Professor. Interested in African cities, socialist Atlantic histories, architecture and urban financialization. Book: The Aesthetics of Belonging: https://uncpress.org/book/9781469682181/the-aesthetics-of-belonging/
Pinned
Claudia Gastrow
@cgastrow.bsky.social
· Nov 21
The Aesthetics of Belonging | Claudia Gastrow | University of North Carolina Press
After centuries of colonial rule, the end of Angola's three-decade civil war in 2002 provided an irresistible opportunity for the government to reimagine the...
uncpress.org
My book is out! The Aesthetics of Belonging explores how urban aesthetics shape experiences and practices of political belonging:
uncpress.org/book/9781469...
uncpress.org/book/9781469...
Can’t wait to read this!
African Decolonial Theory: A Conversation (with an incredible lineup). A longread of 68 pages @antipodeonline.bsky.social
#geosky @demonicgrounds.bsky.social @udadisi.bsky.social @roapejournal.bsky.social @africamultiple.bsky.social @pollenetwork.bsky.social
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
#geosky @demonicgrounds.bsky.social @udadisi.bsky.social @roapejournal.bsky.social @africamultiple.bsky.social @pollenetwork.bsky.social
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
African Decolonial Theory: A Conversation
Antipode has become a key platform for engaging with decolonial and anticolonial scholarship, as well as adjacent fields such as Black geographies, Indigenous studies, Latin American feminism, and wo...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
February 4, 2026 at 2:36 PM
Can’t wait to read this!
Reposted by Claudia Gastrow
Our scholarship holder Paul Sprute reports on #postcolonial transport infrastructure in Côte d’Ivoire, focusing on bridges in Abidjan, San Pedro's port & new town & border-crossing projects toward #Liberia : How were these ambitious plans of the independence era realized?
Post-Colonial Transport Infrastructures in Côte d’Ivoire: Projects and Realizations
Côte d’Ivoire’s post-colonial boom period has materialized in well-known landmark architecture, most notably the towers forming the Abidjan skyline and the Yamoussoukro project of a new post-colonial capital in the...
dhip.hypotheses.org
February 3, 2026 at 9:00 AM
Our scholarship holder Paul Sprute reports on #postcolonial transport infrastructure in Côte d’Ivoire, focusing on bridges in Abidjan, San Pedro's port & new town & border-crossing projects toward #Liberia : How were these ambitious plans of the independence era realized?
Reposted by Claudia Gastrow
More examples of 'corridorization'... www.theenergypioneer.com/post/the-mak...
The Making of a Middle Power: Angola’s Lobito Corridor
Geographically blessed with mineral-rich neighbours to the east and the Atlantic to the west, Angola occupies a pivotal role, providing a vital transport and energy corridor that connects central and ...
www.theenergypioneer.com
January 18, 2026 at 11:07 AM
More examples of 'corridorization'... www.theenergypioneer.com/post/the-mak...
Reposted by Claudia Gastrow
🎧 NEW EPISODE! Feat. @cgastrow.bsky.social, author of "The Aesthetics of Belonging” from @uncpress.bsky.social. Listen here or find us wherever you get your podcasts!
www.urbanaffairsreview.com/uar-archive/...
www.urbanaffairsreview.com/uar-archive/...
New Books: The Aesthetics of Belonging: Indigenous Urbanism and City Building in Oil-Boom Luanda, by Claudia Gastrow — Urban Affairs Review
In this episode, we’re speaking with Claudia Gastrow, author of The Aesthetics of Belonging: Indigenous Urbanism and City Building in Oil-Boom Luanda , published in 2024 by University of North Caroli...
www.urbanaffairsreview.com
November 30, 2025 at 7:25 PM
🎧 NEW EPISODE! Feat. @cgastrow.bsky.social, author of "The Aesthetics of Belonging” from @uncpress.bsky.social. Listen here or find us wherever you get your podcasts!
www.urbanaffairsreview.com/uar-archive/...
www.urbanaffairsreview.com/uar-archive/...
I had the wonderful opportunity to chat to Miranda Melcher about my book on urban aesthetics, Angola, oil and Indigenous urbanisms in Africa. Hosted of course by the fabulous @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/n...
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/n...
Claudia Gastrow,
Podcast Episode · New Books in African Studies · 10/31/2025 · 58m
podcasts.apple.com
October 31, 2025 at 5:58 PM
I had the wonderful opportunity to chat to Miranda Melcher about my book on urban aesthetics, Angola, oil and Indigenous urbanisms in Africa. Hosted of course by the fabulous @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/n...
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/n...
Reposted by Claudia Gastrow
Dusk-to-Dawn curfew in place in Tanzania as protests continue following the national election yesterday. Incumbent Samia Suluhu is accused of intimidation and arbitrary arrests of leading opposition figures, including Chadema leader Tundu Lissu who is charged with treason and was not on the ballot.
October 30, 2025 at 11:49 AM
Dusk-to-Dawn curfew in place in Tanzania as protests continue following the national election yesterday. Incumbent Samia Suluhu is accused of intimidation and arbitrary arrests of leading opposition figures, including Chadema leader Tundu Lissu who is charged with treason and was not on the ballot.
Reposted by Claudia Gastrow
Across the African continent, from Madagascar to Morocco, young people known as Generation Z, are taking to the streets demanding social justice, and their voices to be heard.
A global Gen-Z revolt: African youth mobilize against corruption and neo-colonialism
Across the African continent, from Madagascar to Morocco, young people known as Generation Z, are taking to the streets demanding social justice, and their voices to be heard.
globalvoices.org
October 28, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Across the African continent, from Madagascar to Morocco, young people known as Generation Z, are taking to the streets demanding social justice, and their voices to be heard.
Reposted by Claudia Gastrow
China dominates the narrative on Africa’s urban development — but what about Turkey? In Maputo, Turkish construction firms are quietly reshaping the city, largely unnoticed by researchers. Not all of these companies are here for fun—many of them are run by exiles linked to the Gülen movement.
October 28, 2025 at 9:00 AM
China dominates the narrative on Africa’s urban development — but what about Turkey? In Maputo, Turkish construction firms are quietly reshaping the city, largely unnoticed by researchers. Not all of these companies are here for fun—many of them are run by exiles linked to the Gülen movement.
Reposted by Claudia Gastrow
What Pan-Africanism Can Teach Us Now
A biography of Ghanaian leader Kwame Nkrumah casts the post-WWII era as a Black liberation epic rather than a psychodrama between Moscow and Washington.
newrepublic.com/article/1997...
A biography of Ghanaian leader Kwame Nkrumah casts the post-WWII era as a Black liberation epic rather than a psychodrama between Moscow and Washington.
newrepublic.com/article/1997...
What Pan-Africanism Can Teach Us Now
A biography of Ghanaian leader Kwame Nkrumah casts the post-WWII era as a Black liberation epic rather than a psychodrama between Moscow and Washington.
newrepublic.com
October 14, 2025 at 12:22 AM
What Pan-Africanism Can Teach Us Now
A biography of Ghanaian leader Kwame Nkrumah casts the post-WWII era as a Black liberation epic rather than a psychodrama between Moscow and Washington.
newrepublic.com/article/1997...
A biography of Ghanaian leader Kwame Nkrumah casts the post-WWII era as a Black liberation epic rather than a psychodrama between Moscow and Washington.
newrepublic.com/article/1997...
Reposted by Claudia Gastrow
“I realised if I stop now, who’s gonna stand up again? If I don’t do it, who’s going to do it? If it’s not now, then when?”
I spoke to Gen Z protestors in Madagascar, who said they plan to fight on until the president resigns and the whole political system is reformed
I spoke to Gen Z protestors in Madagascar, who said they plan to fight on until the president resigns and the whole political system is reformed
‘We are the last hope’: Gen Z Madagascar vows to fight on until president resigns
Protesting young people reject dissolution of government as insufficient and demand list of reforms
www.theguardian.com
October 2, 2025 at 12:58 PM
“I realised if I stop now, who’s gonna stand up again? If I don’t do it, who’s going to do it? If it’s not now, then when?”
I spoke to Gen Z protestors in Madagascar, who said they plan to fight on until the president resigns and the whole political system is reformed
I spoke to Gen Z protestors in Madagascar, who said they plan to fight on until the president resigns and the whole political system is reformed
Reposted by Claudia Gastrow
Introducing the William E. Leuchtenburg Fund
Created to honor Bill Leuchtenburg’s decades of service on our board and his towering contributions to scholarship in American History. Learn more in this thread 🧵
Created to honor Bill Leuchtenburg’s decades of service on our board and his towering contributions to scholarship in American History. Learn more in this thread 🧵
September 24, 2025 at 9:10 PM
Introducing the William E. Leuchtenburg Fund
Created to honor Bill Leuchtenburg’s decades of service on our board and his towering contributions to scholarship in American History. Learn more in this thread 🧵
Created to honor Bill Leuchtenburg’s decades of service on our board and his towering contributions to scholarship in American History. Learn more in this thread 🧵
Reposted by Claudia Gastrow
The artist Sana Ginwalla has created an online photo archive based on 1000 uncollected negatives, slides and prints that she found in the attic of Lusaka’s oldest photo studios. What a great initiative:
www.zambiabelonging.com
www.zambiabelonging.com
Zambia Belonging
A counter-archive of found and crowd-sourced photographs from Zambia’s past.
www.zambiabelonging.com
September 23, 2025 at 9:35 AM
The artist Sana Ginwalla has created an online photo archive based on 1000 uncollected negatives, slides and prints that she found in the attic of Lusaka’s oldest photo studios. What a great initiative:
www.zambiabelonging.com
www.zambiabelonging.com
Excited to be part of this amazing collaboration which has helped me think more broadly and capaciously about histories of urbanism and architecture across the globe! Thanks to @staneklukasz.bsky.social for leading this initiative!
I'm grateful to the Graham Foundation for supporting our book The Gift: Spaces of Global Socialism and Their Afterlives. Its greatest asset is the contributors, expanding the range of voices in architectural scholarship and testing new forms of collaboration: www.grahamfoundation.org/grantees/669...
June 27, 2025 at 5:14 PM
Excited to be part of this amazing collaboration which has helped me think more broadly and capaciously about histories of urbanism and architecture across the globe! Thanks to @staneklukasz.bsky.social for leading this initiative!
Reposted by Claudia Gastrow
New UNC Press books have entered the villa 😎
ICYMI: our fall 2025 catalog of books publishing between August 2025 and January 2026 is now live on our site 🎉
uncpress.org/fall-2025-se...
ICYMI: our fall 2025 catalog of books publishing between August 2025 and January 2026 is now live on our site 🎉
uncpress.org/fall-2025-se...
Fall/Winter 2025 Seasonal Catalog Listing
Welcome to the UNC Press Fall/Winter 2025 Seasonal Catalog. Here you’ll find a listing of our new books scheduled to be published between August 2025 and
uncpress.org
April 28, 2025 at 3:58 PM
New UNC Press books have entered the villa 😎
ICYMI: our fall 2025 catalog of books publishing between August 2025 and January 2026 is now live on our site 🎉
uncpress.org/fall-2025-se...
ICYMI: our fall 2025 catalog of books publishing between August 2025 and January 2026 is now live on our site 🎉
uncpress.org/fall-2025-se...
Reposted by Claudia Gastrow
Prepare for publication in an ASA Journal! ASA is calling all emerging scholars to apply for the PIPES pre-conference workshop this November 19 in Atlanta, GA. Review your eligibility, prepare your draft, and apply by May 15! africanstudies.org/a...
May 2, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Prepare for publication in an ASA Journal! ASA is calling all emerging scholars to apply for the PIPES pre-conference workshop this November 19 in Atlanta, GA. Review your eligibility, prepare your draft, and apply by May 15! africanstudies.org/a...
Fantastic opportunity for early career African researchers working on agrarian issues.
www.peasantjournal.org/news/call-fo...
www.peasantjournal.org/news/call-fo...
Call for Applications - Africa Writeshop in Critical Agrarian Studies and Scholar-Activism, Cape Town | Agrarian Conversations
www.peasantjournal.org
March 19, 2025 at 7:37 PM
Fantastic opportunity for early career African researchers working on agrarian issues.
www.peasantjournal.org/news/call-fo...
www.peasantjournal.org/news/call-fo...
Reposted by Claudia Gastrow
Looking forward to this book forum organized by the Duke Africa Initiative on 26 Mar with @cgastrow.bsky.social and @shakirahh.bsky.social
March 19, 2025 at 9:53 AM
Looking forward to this book forum organized by the Duke Africa Initiative on 26 Mar with @cgastrow.bsky.social and @shakirahh.bsky.social
Reposted by Claudia Gastrow
"Conceived as a rebuke of modernism’s minimalism + urban monotony, Gailhoustet + Renaudie’s master plan for Ivry’s town center is a jagged and diffuse pile of triangular volumes that leveled the unity of the superblock into a mosaic of ramps, rooftop terraces and gardens..."
When French Communists Went on a Brutalist Building Boom
The new book A Concrete Alliance explores the daring and divisive architecture built by the Communist Party of France in working-class towns of the 1960s and ’70s.
www.bloomberg.com
February 9, 2025 at 3:49 PM
"Conceived as a rebuke of modernism’s minimalism + urban monotony, Gailhoustet + Renaudie’s master plan for Ivry’s town center is a jagged and diffuse pile of triangular volumes that leveled the unity of the superblock into a mosaic of ramps, rooftop terraces and gardens..."
Reposted by Claudia Gastrow
President Ramaphosa’s touching tribute to the 14 South African soldiers killed during this month’s heavy fighting in the DRC, both as part of the SADC & United Nations missions. It was a solemn and proper opening to his address.
They served their country, it’s important to honour & remember them.
They served their country, it’s important to honour & remember them.
February 6, 2025 at 11:09 PM
President Ramaphosa’s touching tribute to the 14 South African soldiers killed during this month’s heavy fighting in the DRC, both as part of the SADC & United Nations missions. It was a solemn and proper opening to his address.
They served their country, it’s important to honour & remember them.
They served their country, it’s important to honour & remember them.
Now imagine when I found my fieldwork photos unattributed in an edited collection with an actual academic press… book was posted over a decade ago so felt it wasn’t worth following up, but did I get a shock when I saw them.
January 9, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Now imagine when I found my fieldwork photos unattributed in an edited collection with an actual academic press… book was posted over a decade ago so felt it wasn’t worth following up, but did I get a shock when I saw them.
Reposted by Claudia Gastrow
Police fire teargas, stun grenades and, in at least one instance, live bullets at supporters of Mozambican opposition leader Venâncio Mondlane gathered at Maputo's airport for his arrival this morning. (via Adriano Nuvunga)
January 9, 2025 at 7:18 AM
Police fire teargas, stun grenades and, in at least one instance, live bullets at supporters of Mozambican opposition leader Venâncio Mondlane gathered at Maputo's airport for his arrival this morning. (via Adriano Nuvunga)
Reposted by Claudia Gastrow
Historians: This is an extraordinarily useful collection of online archives that Evan has assembled.
As 2024 is coming to an end, I thought I would put together a thread of the top 10 visited collections from my list of online and open access collections of radical historical documents (with nearly 700 now listed and more to come).
hatfulofhistory.wordpress.com/radical-onli...
hatfulofhistory.wordpress.com/radical-onli...
radical online collections and archives
I am very interested in the growing amount of radical literature from around the world that is being scanned and digitised. As there are so many and from many different places, I thought it would b…
hatfulofhistory.wordpress.com
January 7, 2025 at 7:53 AM
Historians: This is an extraordinarily useful collection of online archives that Evan has assembled.
Thanks @nickrushsmith.bsky.social ! I hope it meets expectations! Such an amazing number of books about African urbanism published in the last year.
A lot of great books on this list, including a few I’ve been waiting to see published for a long time like @cgastrow.bsky.social’s on Luanda and Sharad Chari’s on Durban. My reading list is getting longer!
January 9, 2025 at 12:32 AM
Thanks @nickrushsmith.bsky.social ! I hope it meets expectations! Such an amazing number of books about African urbanism published in the last year.
Reposted by Claudia Gastrow
Last Thursday's strike is eerily similar to a February drone massacre of 30+ people. I produced this visual investigation of it. Since the likes of Turkey, UAE, Iran and China began arming Ethiopia with drones in 2020, thousands of civilians have been killed in strikes.
THREAD: My visual investigation of a drone massacre of 30+ people in Ethiopia, is the cover page story on this weekend's edition of the @thecontinent.bsky.social. With this thread, I'll outline how we identified the massacre location in a war torn region where comms are severed.
www.thecontinent.org
www.thecontinent.org
December 8, 2024 at 12:42 AM
Last Thursday's strike is eerily similar to a February drone massacre of 30+ people. I produced this visual investigation of it. Since the likes of Turkey, UAE, Iran and China began arming Ethiopia with drones in 2020, thousands of civilians have been killed in strikes.
Reposted by Claudia Gastrow
🎉We have a contract! @uchicagopress.bsky.social will publish the Patchwork Ethnography textbook. If you're an Early Career scholar, please consider applying to our workshop. We're looking for contributors who can help advance our theorization. Deadline 6 Dec: patchworkethnography.com/events.
Events — Patchwork Ethnography
patchworkethnography.com
December 1, 2024 at 8:21 PM
🎉We have a contract! @uchicagopress.bsky.social will publish the Patchwork Ethnography textbook. If you're an Early Career scholar, please consider applying to our workshop. We're looking for contributors who can help advance our theorization. Deadline 6 Dec: patchworkethnography.com/events.