Safe Space: remembering Treffpunkt Schwarzer Frauen in Zürich (1990-2010)
[re, de]
2023–ongoing
Insitut für Geschichte und Theorie der Architektur (gta), ETH Zürich Switzerland
PhD research
Khensani Jurczok-de Klerk, supervised by Prof. Philip Ursprung, Prof. Anna Puigjaner & Ilze Wolff
︎ gta ETH Zürich
From the 1970s, migration from African countries began to notably increase in Switzerland. Whilst the social, economic, physical and political ramifications of the white Swiss nuclear family ideal have been dire for women, “Third World Women" have persisted to create liveable geographies for themselves, as evidenced by projects such as the Treffpunkt Schwarzer Frauen in Zurich (1990–2010). The research reclaims the contested term “Third World Woman”, to describe racialised Black foreign women, as a means of distinguishing intersectionalities of risk, recognising shared and specific struggles experienced by Black women.
What forms of kinship have Black “Third World Women” constructed to make liveable geographies for themselves in the wake of racial-sexual violences in Zürich since the 1970s until today? What are the imprints of these forms of kinship? What lessons might we learn from these forms of kinship that liberate and emancipate women from conditions of hostility and violence, reimagining safe space as affirming and empowering? The methodological approach hopes to offer one way of remembering forms of kinship, through intertwined sonic and visual imprints.
Since 2010, the Treffpunkt Schwarzer Frauen in Zürich no longer exists and no perceivable architectural traces can be found where it stood. The archive of it’s life sits in the mouths of those who frequented it, lingers in personal photo albums, and appears scarcely in publicly accessible texts. A key ambition of this PhD is to excavate and assemble the oral histories that hold this space, and in so doing, illuminate and visually illustrate the historical significance and impact of the project.
The work is a homage to and an affirmation of the histories and existence of Black foreign women who have have affected, affect and will continue to affect space in Zürich.
photos: Getrug Vögler©
Khensani Jurczok-de Klerk© 2024