The Africa Institute at Global Studies University, in collaboration with the Open Society Foundations, welcomes Emilio Distretti and Nancy Rushohora as Fall 2026 recipients of the Restitution and Reparation: Africa and the Post-Colonial Condition Fellowship.
The fellowship supports scholars and practitioners whose work addresses restitution, repatriation, cultural heritage, and the continuing effects of colonialism in Africa. This fall’s fellows bring perspectives from architecture, archaeology, and heritage studies to questions of colonial violence, collective memory, and reparative justice.
Emilio Distretti is a London-based researcher, writer, and educator in the School of Architecture at the Royal College of Art. His research examines the afterlives of colonial architecture and material heritage, with a focus on critical preservation, spatial justice, and transnational struggles for reparations.
He collaborates with the art and architecture collective Decolonizing Architecture Art Research (DAAR) and is co-authoring Entity of Decolonization: The Afterlives of Colonial–Fascist Architecture, forthcoming from Park Books in 2027. Distretti holds a Ph.D. in Aesthetics and the Politics of Representation from the University of Portsmouth in the United Kingdom. Read full profile.
Nancy Rushohora is a Tanzanian archaeologist and heritage scholar and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies at the University of Dar es Salaam. She is also an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom and Stellenbosch University in South Africa.
Her research focuses on the archaeology of resistance, heritage and trauma, collective memory, and the politics of photography and memorialization, particularly in relation to colonial violence and its aftermath in Africa. She is co-author of the forthcoming Handbook of Memory Studies in Sub-Saharan Africa, scheduled for publication in 2027.
During her fellowship, Rushohora will examine epistemic restitution through a documentary film exploring the transgenerational memories of the Majimaji War. Read full profile.
The fellowship provides a setting for sustained research and exchange on restitution and reparation, bringing scholarly and practice-based approaches into dialogue with the wider academic community at The Africa Institute, Global Studies University.
The Africa Institute at Global Studies University, in collaboration with the Open Society Foundations, welcomes Emilio Distretti and Nancy Rushohora as Fall 2026 recipients of the Restitution and Reparation: Africa and the Post-Colonial Condition Fellowship.
The Africa Institute at Global Studies University, in collaboration with the Open Society Foundations, welcomes Emilio Distretti and Nancy Rushohora as Fall 2026 recipients of the Restitution and Reparation: Africa and the Post-Colonial Condition Fellowship.
The fellowship supports scholars and practitioners whose work addresses restitution, repatriation, cultural heritage, and the continuing effects of colonialism in Africa. This fall’s fellows bring perspectives from architecture, archaeology, and heritage studies to questions of colonial violence, collective memory, and reparative justice.
Emilio Distretti is a London-based researcher, writer, and educator in the School of Architecture at the Royal College of Art. His research examines the afterlives of colonial architecture and material heritage, with a focus on critical preservation, spatial justice, and transnational struggles for reparations.
He collaborates with the art and architecture collective Decolonizing Architecture Art Research (DAAR) and is co-authoring Entity of Decolonization: The Afterlives of Colonial–Fascist Architecture, forthcoming from Park Books in 2027. Distretti holds a Ph.D. in Aesthetics and the Politics of Representation from the University of Portsmouth in the United Kingdom. Read full profile.
Nancy Rushohora is a Tanzanian archaeologist and heritage scholar and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Archaeology and Heritage Studies at the University of Dar es Salaam. She is also an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom and Stellenbosch University in South Africa.
Her research focuses on the archaeology of resistance, heritage and trauma, collective memory, and the politics of photography and memorialization, particularly in relation to colonial violence and its aftermath in Africa. She is co-author of the forthcoming Handbook of Memory Studies in Sub-Saharan Africa, scheduled for publication in 2027.
During her fellowship, Rushohora will examine epistemic restitution through a documentary film exploring the transgenerational memories of the Majimaji War. Read full profile.
The fellowship provides a setting for sustained research and exchange on restitution and reparation, bringing scholarly and practice-based approaches into dialogue with the wider academic community at The Africa Institute, Global Studies University.
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