Funambulist article by Asst. Prof. Menna Agha: The Invention of Nubian Deserts
November 23, 2022
Assistant Professor Menna Agha has contributed an article, The Invention of Nubian Deserts, to The Funambulist magazine.
In it, Dr. Agha describes how deserts — a term inexistent in Nubian cosmology — constitute a political process of dispossession of Nubian land used both by European colonialists and the Egyptian state. From the harsh realities of displacement this dispossession triggered, she imagines what return would mean for Nubian people.
The piece appears in the 44th issue of The Funambulist, titled The Desert, which is dedicated to desert epistemes and political struggles from its peoples.
Agha is an architect and researcher who promotes pedagogy and research in the newly established area of Design and Spatial Justice at the Azrieli School of Architecture & Urbanism.
She is a third-generation displaced Fadicha Nubian, a legacy that infuses her research interests in race, gender, space, and territory.
The Funambulist is a platform that engages with the politics of space and bodies. The print and online magazine is published every two months and can be ordered here.
