
CYCLE 1 / EPISODE 4
Finding our place: inside/outside/in the periphery of academia
This episode ventures beyond the traditional confines of academia to explore research, education, and publication practices situated ‘in the periphery of’ academia. By creating a ‘distant dialogue’ between members of three very inspiring editorial platforms – The Funambulist, KoozArch, and Bellingcat – it questions which aspects of the ‘status quo’ can be pushed back against and how, by tackling questions such as: How can we open up space where complex questions and honest conversations can be had? To what extent and to whom is our work useful? In what ways are we over-intellectualizing urban studies? In confronting extractive practices and rigid norms, the episode advocates for more plural, reciprocal knowledge ecosystems – inside and beyond the academia.
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Guests
Léopold Lambert
Léopold Lambert is the editor-in-chief of The Funambulist. He is a trained architect, as well as the author of four books that examine the inherent violence of architecture on bodies, and its political instrumentalization at various scales and in various geographical contexts. He is the author of Weaponized Architecture: The Impossibility of Innocence (dpr-barcelona, 2012), Topie Impitoyable: The Corporeal Politics of the Cloth, the Wall, and the Street (punctum, 2016) and La politique du Bulldozer: La ruine palestinienne comme projet israélien (B2, 2016). His new book is called States of Emergency: A Spatial History of the French Colonial Continuum (Premiers Matins de Novembre, 2021).
Federica Sofia Zambeletti
Federica Sofia Zambeletti is the founder and managing director of KoozArch. She is an architect, researcher, and storyteller whose interests lie at the intersection between art, architecture, and regenerative practices. In 2022, Federica founded KoozArch with the ambition of creating a space where to research, explore and discuss architecture beyond the limits of its built form. Prior to dedicating her full attention to KoozArch, Federica collaborated with the architecture studio and non-profit agency for change UNA/UNLESS, working on numerous cultural projects and the research of “Antarctic Resolution”. Federica is an Architectural Association School of Architecture in London alumni.
Giancarlo Fiorella
Giancarlo Fiorella is the Director for Research and Training at Bellingcat. He has a PhD from the Centre for Criminology & Sociolegal Studies at the University of Toronto, where his research focused on non-state actors and antigovernmental protests in Venezuela. He is also an Assistant Professor with the Global Justice Investigations Lab at Utrecht University.
Readings
Additional materials
To hear more about KoozArch’s editorial approach, check out this episode of the “Architectures of Planetary Well-being” podcast: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0hrwV5lBthZ1GS8OpFeQPm?si=20763acb3d0b46ad
To hear “Space between”, a podcast created and hosted by KoozArch: https://open.spotify.com/show/30hQCaDENSQBsim1dxsAyz?si=bfc6a9e07bee4444
To see the 49th issue of The Funambulist, where they question the material conditions of education as well as its contents: https://thefunambulist.net/magazine/schools-of-the-revolution
To learn more about Bellingcat’s rigorous method to conduct open-source investigations: https://www.bellingcat.com/what-is-bellingcats-ja-unit-december-2022/