We are offering two fully-funded PhD studentships as part of the project Understanding Statehood through Architecture: a comparative study of Africa’s state buildings (ASA). The project is funded by the European Research Council and run from the Department of Politics and International Relations, SOAS, University of London. One project will explore the history of early post-colonial architecture and the other will explore modern Chinese architectural building projects. Both w

16th century Historically, there were several kingdoms, states, empires, and polities in and extending into the geographical area that later became the nation of Ghana, and these entities constructed buildings to display their power and sovereignty. Located in Wa, founded in the 16th century and one of the oldest cities in the Northern part of Ghana, the palace of the Wa Naa is the official residence of the paramount chief of the Wala people. The architectural style is a comb

1822 The Aban, also referred to as The Palace of Culture, was a grand building constructed to display the wealth, gifts and military might of the Asante Kingdom. It was built by Fante builders from the coast of Ghana and inspired by images of European architecture that the Asantehenes Osei Kwadwo and Osei Bonsu had seen. This building was completed in 1822 and described by T.E Bowdich and Joseph Dupuis in their accounts of their visits to Kumase. This etching (artist unknown)

1897 During the British colonial campaign in Ghana, several of the great buildings of Ghana-based empires and kingdoms were destroyed. In accordance with British colonial policy, administrative buildings, official residences and schools were constructed to house colonial authorities and to demonstrate the power of the Empire. The British constructed the Kumasi Fort on the site of a fort built in 1820 by Asantehene Osei Tutu Kwamina which they destroyed after the wars to annex

1961 Independence-era architecture in Ghana marked a break with traditional British forms and coincided with the modernist movement in architecture which valued functionality and clean lines over ornamentation and decoration. The Black Star Gate was one of the projects commissioned by Kwame Nkrumah to signify the sovereignty of the new country of Ghana. It was commissioned to mark the state visit of Queen Elizabeth II to Ghana. It was undertaken by the Public Works Department

TBC In recent times, state architecture projects in Ghana have usually been funded, designed and constructed by foreign countries such as China (Ministry of Defence building, Parliament House Interiors) and India (Presidential Palace). The proposed national cathedral has political as well as religious significance. The project has been driven by the New Patriotic Party government and the Christian political majority in an attempt to establish political and religious supremacy

The European Research Council has awarded a consolidator grant to Prof Julia Gallagher for her project, Understanding Statehood through Architecture: a comparative study of Africa’s state buildings. The five-year project sets out to understand how African states work and what they mean to citizens. It does so by looking at state buildings, such as parliaments, ministries, courts, police stations and presidential headquarters in seven African countries – South Africa, Tanzania