Queering Historical Methodologies in the Built Environment: Public Talk

Public talk: In this talk, Arul Paul and Sonal Mithal will join us online to discuss their recent book, A Queer Reading of Nawabi Architecture and the Colonial Archive: Lucknow Queerscapes (Routledge, 2024, Open Access), which offers a unique postcolonial history of Lucknow (1775–1857). They will introduce the ways that they have been reading colonial archives queerly to reveal hidden sites of resistance to British rule. The public talk will be followed by a postgraduate workshop.

Postgraduate Workshop: Queering Historical Methodologies in the Built Environment

What are ‘queer methodologies,’ and how can they help us reclaim the underexamined and overlooked? Following their talk, Dr. Arul Paul and Dr. Sonal Mithal join B.Queer for a workshop with postgraduate students and doctoral researchers on how queer historical methodologies can be applied to the study of architecture, cities, and space. The workshop will delve into how queer methodologies can be used to challenge dominant narratives in architectural and urban history.

Participants interested in attending the workshop must submit an expression of interest here: https://forms.office.com/e/T1hNPt0bcZ. You will be expected to attend the public talk, read an excerpt from the book, and prepare to share your research by connecting it to the book.

The workshop will be hybrid, with lunch provided for in-person attendees.

This event is organized by B.Queer and welcomes postgraduate students from any discipline and institution interested in queer, postcolonial, or decolonial approaches to the built environment.

For more information on this event, please contact Leah Aaron:leah.aaron.16@ucl.ac.uk or Athina Petsou:

Queering Urbanism

Queering Urbanism is an event series initiated by B.Queer, The Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment’s network for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, intersex, asexual (LGBTQIA+) students, staff and allies.Organised by Sé Tunnacliffe, Jordana Ramalho, Ben Campkin and Lo Marshall, the series connects queer and trans studies to urban studies and practices of urbanism, foregrounding issues of equity, diversity and inclusion in the built environment.