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Translations/Re-inserted poetics
, Somalia/Ethiopia
Alexander Chouinard
Stephanie Heddon
Carleton University (Azrieli school of Architecture and Urbanism), Ottawa, Canada
Roger Connah
Full Document (PDF)
Abstract
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We became interested in the ongoing conflict in Somalia because it has essentially fallen off of the map within western mainstream media. However, the conflict is as prevalent as ever and hundreds of Somalis are displaced everyday, requiring new refugee camps planned within Ethiopia. This led us to explore indigenous forms of media, which inevitably led to an interest in their primary form of expression, that of poetry. Poems like ‘deelley’, that united the Somali people during the reign of the dictator Siad Barre. While exploring the unique qualities of their poetry we began to focus on the qualities that are lost in translation. Translation theory then became a framework for approaching a reconciliatory design solution that created a dialogue between western and indigenous media forms, cultures, and their respective relief priorities. Inspired in part by Paul Virlio’s writings on western media’s shift from representation to presentation, we were determined to deal with both the immediacy of the situation as well as the long-term and cultural needs of the Somali people. The modularized pallet system is simple in its practicality and complex in its compositional adaptability, long-term support for communities, and its ability to be re-appropriated upon refugee relocation.
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image of the settlement
(architectural scale or example of unit)
image of the settlement
(urban scale or group of housing units)
diagram of the actors
involved and the relationships between them |
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