Ayala Levin

History and Theory of Architecture, GSAPP

“Exporting National Identity: Architectural Modernism from Israel in the service of Development in Sub-Saharan African states, 1957-1973″

From the late 1950s to the beginning of the 1970s architects from Israel, among other experts, took part in an extensive development program tailored by Israel’s Foreign Ministry in sub-Saharan African states. My research deals with the cultural overtones of the modernization projects of Africa in the 1960s as they are manifested in this architectural exportation. The key questions are: how architectural modernism from Israel was constructed as culturally specific and at the same time could be rendered appropriate to express African national identities; what was perceived as the role of architectural modernism in the development and modernization of economy, governance and public services; and finally, how the processes of modernization were incorporated into a system of cultural signification to become markers of national identity. The examination and comparison of architectural projects carried out by architects from Israel can shed new light on the different forms and meanings “development” had in the various sub-Saharan states.

My preliminary research in Ethiopia follows the work of Zalman Enav, the Israeli architect who worked most extensively on the continent, and the only one who set there his prime office from 1959 to 1964 together with Michael Tedros, a local architect. Embraced by the royal family, Enav’s work ranged from the Ethiopian Foreign Ministry and other royal commissions to the design of rural schools and post offices. He has also contributed to the Africanization and professionalization of the local building industry by taking part in the establishing of an architecture department and a professional journal at the university of Addis Ababa. Ethiopia’s ancient history as an independent state and its resistance to European colonization in the 19th century created a different setting for a development project. This symbol of independence, together with its Church’s ties to biblical traditions, large Jewish population, strategic location along the Red Sea, and the royalty’s earlier ties with Jewish settlers in Palestine already in the 1940′s situates the architect in a prolific cultural crossroad.

Exporting National Identity can contribute to our understanding of the cultural relationships between Africa and the Middle East. Cutting across the barrier between the Third World and the developed world, the export of architectural knowledge and production offers a new perspective on the processes of decolonization, development and the formation of national identity in Africa.