My name is Khalda El Jack, a child of the diaspora by way of the UK, KSA, UAE and now Belgium. After practicing in the UAE, I am currently a research associate at KU Leuven, where my current research interests lie in the deeper understanding of the socio-spatial manifestation of multi-ethnic living in Sudan. Having lived my entire life outside of the motherland, I am even more keen to understanding Sudan, its identity and mine, alike.
“[…] THIS IS AN INTERVENTION. A MESSAGE FROM THAT SPACE IN THE MARGIN THAT IS A SITE OF CREATIVITY AND POWER, THAT INCLUSIVE SPACE WHERE WE UNCOVER OURSELVES, WHERE WE MOVE IN SOLIDARITY TO ERASE THE CATEGORY OF COLONIZED/COLONIZER. MARGINALITY AS SITE OF RESISTANCE. ENTER THAT SPACE. LET US MEET THERE. ENTER THAT SPACE. WE GREET YOU AS LIBERATORS.” -Bell Hooks in her 1989 Choosing the Margin as a Space of Radical Openness
I am a proud Sudanese and I am a proud architect. I am learning to disentangle these classifications of attributing profession with national, gender, etc. and find my passion in each separately that come together to create my whole. I’m a proud architect and urbanist because through the tools I’ve been taught and practicing with, I have learned how to think about and analyze the environment around me. Which it means to create space with and for living beings, humans and others alike. Trying to carry this learning forward by taking part in programs such as ASM, but also speaking to the women in communities to spread the knowledge
In one word describe: 1. Yourself: 2. Sudanese Women: 3. Architecture:
“AS ARCHITECTS/URBAN DESIGNERS/SPACE MAKERS/ETC., LISTEN AND OBSERVE YOUR SURROUNDINGS BEFORE YOU WORK ON YOUR DESIGNS. CREATING SPACES WHERE LIFE TAKES PLACE, AND WHO BEST CAN CREATE SUCH SPACES THAN THE COMMUNITIES THAT USE AND LIVE IN THESE SPACES. LET US USE WHAT WE’VE LEARNED TO FACILITATE DESIGN SOLUTIONS THAT START FROM THE BOTTOMUP, THAT IS, THAT START ALREADY EXISTING COMMUNITIES IN THESE SPACES, OR FOR WHOM WE ARE DESIGNING WITH, FOR.”
To you, woman, Sudanese, African, architect, who exists in a patriarchal system that teaches us to be inferior, stay strong. Don’t listen. Do what you can. Stay curious. Keep searching and let us all support each other in this journey. Yalla nabneehu!