Dr. Agha describes Nubia as a victim of development and modernization. British colonials built a dam that submerged Nubian land, forcing people to rebuild their homes, reestablish agriculture, and sometimes migrate to find work. Women stayed and sustained their communities. Later, construction of the Aswan High Dam led to forced displacement in the 1960s. The resettlement area was called “New Nubia,” but Nubians described it as “the land of displacement.” Their homeland was treated as a resource for national development, while their connections to the land, ancestors, and community were disregarded.

Dr. Agha’s discussion of modernist architecture was really interesting to me. The housing she described was designed to meet basic biological needs, with no consideration for incorporating beauty, cultural practices, or community. The colonizers determined where and how people would live, stripping them of agency. But, Nubian women’s efforts to rebuild and reshape those homes demonstrate their agency!  

This discussion also made me think about contested geographies in the United States, including redlining and the construction of highways through marginalized neighborhoods. These examples raise similar questions about power: Who makes decisions about a place? Whose needs are prioritized? Whose connections to that place are overlooked?

I'm not sure how to make the idea of contested geographies understandable for third graders.  Maybe starting with a familiar place (e.g. local playground) and explore what happens when different people have different ideas about the space, exploring questions like Who gets to decide? and Whose voices are heard? In past years we've learned about Lake Turkana Wind Farm in Kenya, exploring the effects on the Rendille, Turkana, and Samburu communities.