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Claudia Gastrow

@cgastrow.bsky.social

460 followers 200 following 10 posts

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/

uncpress.org

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Claudia Gastrow @cgastrow.bsky.social · Nov 21

My book is out! The Aesthetics of Belonging explores how urban aesthetics shape experiences and practices of political belonging:

uncpress.org/book/9781469...

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

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Reposted by Claudia Gastrow

Rachel Savage @rachelmsavage.bsky.social · 6d

“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

‘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

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Reposted by Claudia Gastrow

UNC Press @uncpress.bsky.social · 14d

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 🧵

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Reposted by Claudia Gastrow

Duncan Money @mininghistory.bsky.social · 15d

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

Zambia Belonging

A counter-archive of found and crowd-sourced photographs from Zambia’s past.

www.zambiabelonging.com

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Claudia Gastrow @cgastrow.bsky.social · Jun 27

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!

Łukasz Stanek @staneklukasz.bsky.social · Jun 27

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...

Reposted by Claudia Gastrow

UNC Press @uncpress.bsky.social · Apr 28

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...

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

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African Studies Association @asanewsonline.bsky.social · May 2

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...

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Claudia Gastrow @cgastrow.bsky.social · Mar 19

Fantastic opportunity for early career African researchers working on agrarian issues.

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

Reposted by Claudia Gastrow

Claire Mercer @clairemercer.bsky.social · Mar 19

Looking forward to this book forum organized by the Duke Africa Initiative on 26 Mar with @cgastrow.bsky.social and @shakirahh.bsky.social

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Shannon Mattern @shannonmattern.bsky.social · Feb 9

"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

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Reposted by Claudia Gastrow

Darren Olivier @darren.africandefence.net · Feb 6

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.

gather here as our country is mourning the tragic and devastating loss of 14 South African soldiers who were part of a mission to bring peace to the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
We bow our heads in tribute to:
Staff Sergeant William Eddie Cola
Staff Sergeant Molahlehi Ishmael Molahlehi Staff Sergeant Shwahlane Theophilus Seepe
Corporal Matome Justice Malesa
Corporal Rinae Nemavhulani
Lance Bombardier Itumeleng Macdonald Moreo
Lance Corporal Tseke Moffat Molapo
Lance Corporal Metse Stansly Raswiswi
Rifleman Sebatane Richard Chokoe
Rifleman Derrick Maluleke
Rifleman Tshidiso Andries Mabele
Rifleman Calvin Louis Moagi
Rifleman Mokete Joseph Mobe
Private Peter Jacobus Strydom
I have directed that the National Flag be flown at half-mast for a period of a week in honour of our fallen soldiers.

Alongside soldiers from other Southern African countries, they lost their lives in defence of the fundamental right of the Congolese people to live in peace and security.
They lost their lives not in the pursuit of resources or territory or power.
They lost their lives so that the guns on our continent may be forever silenced.
We salute our gallant soldiers.

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Claudia Gastrow @cgastrow.bsky.social · Jan 9

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.

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Julian Rademeyer @julianrademeyer.bsky.social · Jan 9

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)

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Justin Pearce @justinpearce.bsky.social · Jan 7

Historians: This is an extraordinarily useful collection of online archives that Evan has assembled.

Evan @evansmithhist.bsky.social · Dec 31

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...

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

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Claudia Gastrow @cgastrow.bsky.social · Jan 9

Thanks @nickrushsmith.bsky.social ! I hope it meets expectations! Such an amazing number of books about African urbanism published in the last year.

Nicholas Rush Smith @nickrushsmith.bsky.social · Jan 8

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!

jwpaller.bsky.social @jwpaller.bsky.social · Jan 7

open.substack.com/pub/thisweek...

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Zecharias Zelalem @zekuzelalem.bsky.social · Dec 8

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.

Zecharias Zelalem @zekuzelalem.bsky.social · Oct 12

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

Issue 177 of The Continent, published October 12th 2024.

The picture by artist Wynona Mutisi depicts the final moments as described by survivors of a drone strike in Ethiopia's Amhara region. Th coordinates are the location where the investigation identifies the site of the strike that killed 30+ riding aboard a truck.

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Patchwork Ethnography @patchworkethno.bsky.social · Dec 1

🎉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

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Robert Heinze @rheinze.bsky.social · Nov 12

I mad a starter pack for African Studies. Let me know who else should be in here!

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Claudia Gastrow @cgastrow.bsky.social · Nov 28

When you have a wonderful discussion with amazing discussants but subsequently realise you totally misunderstood the concepts one of your discussants asked you about 🙈 I am going to just take it as a reminder that I always have more to learn and more to read.

Reposted by Claudia Gastrow

Stefan Ouma @econgeo.bsky.social · Nov 27

Milton Santos: the Dar es-Salaam years and their impact on one of the most important spatial thinkers. Some histories were yet to be written. Superb stuff in @antipodeonline.bsky.social
#geosky
#africapolsky
#socialtheory
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

South–South Theoretical Dialogues: The Tanzanian Experience (1974–76) in Milton Santos’ Spatial Theory

The Brazilian geographer Milton Santos is known for his sophisticated theorisation of geographical space. Less well known, however, is the role that Milton Santos’ experience at the University of Dar...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Reposted by Claudia Gastrow

UNC Press @uncpress.bsky.social · Nov 25

👏🎉👏🎉

Lisa Materson @lmaterson.bsky.social · Nov 25

We're just a few weeks away from the official publication date of RADICAL SOLIDARITY with
@uncpress.bsky.social and author copies have arrived! More info and preorders available here: uncpress.org/book/9781469... (kitty not included)

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Claudia Gastrow @cgastrow.bsky.social · Nov 22

Come and join me and some wonderful colleagues in discussing my new book next week. More information and registration in the link below:

carleton.ca/africanstudi...

The Aesthetics of Belonging: Indigenous Urbanism, City Building and the Oil Boom in Luanda

Join us for a thought-provoking seminar on the intersections of urbanism, indigenous identity, and the transformation of Luanda during the oil boom. Claudia Gastrow (North Carolina State University) w...

carleton.ca

Reposted by Claudia Gastrow

Justin Pearce @justinpearce.bsky.social · Nov 21

UK freezes the assets of former #Angola first daughter Isabel dos Santos.
www.msn.com/en-za/news/o...

MSN

www.msn.com

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Claudia Gastrow @cgastrow.bsky.social · Nov 21

My book is out! The Aesthetics of Belonging explores how urban aesthetics shape experiences and practices of political belonging:

uncpress.org/book/9781469...

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

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Claudia Gastrow @cgastrow.bsky.social · Nov 18

Please add me :)

Claudia Gastrow @cgastrow.bsky.social · Nov 18

Please add me!