Land, Deed, and Debt: University Campuses in West Africa Workshop

March 27, 2025
9:30am-5:30pm

Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning: Commons 
2000 Bonisteel Blvd. 
Ann Arbor, MI 48109





The Land, Deed, and Debt workshop examines the consequences of the “ceding,” “gifting,” and “granting” of land by Indigenous communities for the establishment and expansion of higher education institutions in colonial and post-independence West Africa. Participants study how these often-forced land transfers have shaped the design, construction, and use of space on and around campuses, as well as the socio-spatial relationships between communities and universities. Organized by Łukasz Stanek and Kuukuwa Manful, the workshop fosters an international comparative perspective on the histories of land transferred by Indigenous peoples to educational institutions.

Topics:
Land Imaginaries

Convenors:
Kuukuwa Manful and Łukasz Stanek



Friends: 
African Studies Center, University of Ghana at Legon, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (Kumasi), University of Lagos.



Speakers:

From Ancestral Lands to Academic Spaces: A Case Study of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana
Kwasi Kwafo Adarkwa
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Land Ownership, Appropriation, and Protection in an Urban Campus: The Case of University of Lagos, Nigeria
Taibat Lawanson
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Educational Land Grants in Industrial Zones: Analyzing the Contestations of Land Gift to Osudoku Senior High School in Ghana's Former Sugar Factory Estate
Michael Gameli Dziwornu
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Inscribing the Nation in Local Space: UniLag and the Histories of Displacement in Lagos
Ademide Adelusi-Adeluyi
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The “Gift” of Higher Education in Ghana
Kuukuwa Manful
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The Gift of a Lease: The KNUST Campus and Its Environs
Łukasz Stanek
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