Joseph Godlewski

Joseph Godlewski is an Associate Professor of Architecture and Senior Research Associate at the Maxwell African Scholars Union at Syracuse University. He holds a Ph.D. in Architecture from the University of California at Berkeley. Uniquely transdisciplinary in his approach, he combines insights from architecture, anthropology, geography, and urban studies to generate new ways of thinking about people and environments. His research employs close readings of textual and material culture to reveal the lived experiences of historically marginalized communities. Through archival and ethnographic fieldwork, his monograph The Architecture of the Bight of Biafra: Spatial Entanglements (Routledge, 2024) examines the intersection of race and the built environment in southeastern Nigeria from the early modern period to today.

Recent publications:

Godlewski, J. (2024). The architecture of the Bight of Biafra: Spatial entanglements. Routledge.

Godlewski, J. (2024, October 17). Where to start? An urban history of the Bight of Biafra. The Metropole Bookshelf. https://themetropole.blog/2024/10/17/where-to-start-an-urban-history-of-the-bight-of-biafra/

Godlewski, J. (2021). Teaching theory in a time of crisis. International Journal of Architecture and Urban Studies, 6(1), 56–62.

Godlewski, J. (2020). Drawing from the archives: Notes on the Old Residency in Calabar, Nigeria. Arts & Humanities Open Access Journal, 4(3), 93–99.

Godlewski, J. (2020). “Is Architectural Theory Western?” In J. Bedford (Ed.), Theory’s Curriculum (pp. 35–47). Architecture Exchange Press.