Ex Africa Aliquid Novum [There is something new coming from Africa]: Herman Haan and Aldo van Eyck’s Journeys in a Pseudo-Ethnographic Vein

Post-World War II European architects Herman Haan and Aldo van Eyck viewed Western African deserts not as mere margins to modernity but as dynamic spaces bridging urban metropolises and primordial landscapes. Analyzing their travel diaries, this study reveals that Haan's pseudo-ethnographic approach dissolved the binary between modernist design and Dogon habitation in Mali's Bandiagara cliffs, demonstrating how spatial experiences were internalized rather than externally imposed. The research challenges Eurocentric architectural narratives by showing a fluid relationship between Rotterdam and the Niger River region, reflecting broader post-colonial fascination with African landscapes.

Velasco Perez, A. (2022). Ex Africa Aliquid Novum [There is something new coming from Africa]: Herman Haan and Aldo van Eyck’s Journeys in a Pseudo-Ethnographic Vein. International Journal of Islamic Architecture, 11(2), 381–407. https://doi.org/10.1386/ijia_00084_1