Postgraduate Profile Nokubekezela Mchunu

Biography: Nokubekezela is an architectural researcher and designer from Johannesburg, South Africa. Her research interests include democratic public spaces, the use of cultural hermeneutics in design and equitable approaches to indigenous archival practices.
Her previous work includes architectural practice, practice-based research, lecturing and project management. She has also worked as a business analyst in process design and is a novice digital artist. Currently, she is part of the ERC-funded group project, Expanding Agency: Women, Race and the Global Dissemination of Modern Architecture.

Research: The objective of this proposal is to illustrate the spatial performances of social and political ideologies at the onset of global modernism, the period in which the project takes place. The case studies in which this premise is explored are two African states experiencing recent political transformation of post-colonialism. Specifically, I explore how they expressed these ideologies through architecture, spatial symbolism, and various forms of material culture that demonstrated their aspiration for and realisation of modernisation.
My assertion is that these spatial interfaces were instrumental in strategically promoting the political ideologies and nationalist identities within the (then) Union of South Africa and the Belgian Congo. Likewise, their civilians used them to display material projections of their desired identities. Although former colonial powers and their former subjects had conflicting interpretations of the concept of nationalism, they were united in their pursuit of reform. Adjustment was required due to evolving global
geopolitical landscapes and changing economies as a result of industrialisation. Forming this modern, post-independence identity varied by group according to their economic, political, and infrastructural capability. Exhibitions were curated to showcase upward mobility and contemporary approaches to cultural refinement to a specific audience. Thus, nationalist movements used forms of spatial display on public platforms in pursuit of domestic esteem and international recognition, whereas civilians created domestic exhibitions in their living rooms for their guests.

Through examining both case studies, I am exploring how curated public displays and the interactions or performances that take place within them serve to confirm and activate their spatial, social and political purposes. Guided by the question, "Do the two social scales of spatial exhibitions bear any resemblance to or exert any influence on each other?", I am using modern era print media as a primary research resource to attempt answering this question.

Keywords: South Africa; domestic interiors; exhibition; living rooms; architectural performance

Contact:(opens in a new window) Nokubekezela.Mchunu@ucdconnect.ie

Supervisor: Professor Kathleen James-Chakraborty

Recent conference papers:

• Nokubekezela Mchunu, 'Steeped in Influence: The Impact of Tea Advertisements on Black, Urban South African Domesticity', IV Congreso Internacional Cultura y Ciudad “Comunicar la Arquitectura: Del origen de la modernidad a la era digita”, 24-26 January 2024.
• Nokubekezela Mchunu, 'Promoting National Identity in a Refugee Camp: A Case of Dakawa and SOMAFCO', Transnationalising Education, 3 March 2023.