The Brazilian Atlantic with Ana Ozaki

Episode three of "Reparative Histories of Art and Architecture" features Ana Ozaki, Assistant Professor of Modern and Contemporary Architectural History at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Ozaki delves into how she reached her method of Quilombo thinking through her interdisciplinary studies in architecture and urban planning. Furthermore, Dr. Ozaki also talks about how Quilolmbo thinking has situated her to consider race in architectural analysis.  In her work, Dr. Ozaki employs Black Feminist Theory, which examines how racism, sexism, and classism overlap. She uses this approach to develop her primary methodology, "Quilombo thinking". Quilombos themselves were communities for runaway slaves in Brazil and acted as a form of active resistance against slavery. Dr. Ozaki uses these communities to define a way of thinking that observes Brazilian architecture outside of the colonial perspective that it has historically been viewed through. As a result, Dr. Ozaki has found that she has been able to reimagine Brazilian history and think critically about the ways that the history has been told, which often center non-Black narratives in architecture.  Key Topics: 3:30 Dr. Ozaki found that going outside of a single discipline allowed her to explore the intellectual questions she had and find a place within her discipline later on.  9:24 Dr. Ozaki describes her experiences with Quilombo thinking, referencing inspirations such as Gilberto Freyre, Beatrix Nascimento, Ori, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, Jemila Hibade, and Franz Boas. While Dr. Ozaki felt apprehensive about how to apply this methodology initially, she conveys how it has also been able to advance architectural history through her work.  28:09 Dr. Ozaki comments on the interdisciplinary process of creating the collaborative paper, "The World We Became: Map Quest 2350", and how the project shaped her teaching practices.  Goffe, Tao Leigh, Shannon Gleeson, Atif Khan, Austin Kocher, Christin Washington, Judith Salcido, Rewa Phansalkar, Ryan Persadie, Anisa Jackson, Elspeth Iralu, Erica Violet Lee, Hashem Abushama, Nisrin Elamin, Randa Tawil, Citlali Sosa-Riddell, Esmeralda Arrizón-Palomera, Kelsey Moore, Lydia Macklin Camel, Mónica Ramírez Bernal, Nancy Morales, Amanda Pinheiro, Ana Ozaki, André Nascimento, Christopher Roberts, Essah Díaz, Reighan Gillam, Juhwan Seo, Priyanka Sen, Andrea Chung, Melanie Puka, Tauren Nelson, and Heidi Amin-Hong. "The World We Became: Map Quest 2350, A Speculative Atlas Beyond Climate Crisis", Asian Diasporic Visual Cultures and the Americas 7, 1-2 (2022): 5-49 35:29 In addition to discussing the RHAA project's inquiry into social justice, Dr. Ozaki talks about how she uses architecture speculatively and expands the idea of Blackness beyond thinkers such as Tiffany Lethabo King, Saidiya Hartman, Sylvia Wynter, and Mabel O. Wilson with the Reimaging Blackness and Architecture exhibit as social justice in her own work.