Framing China's tropics: Thermal techno-politics of socialist tropical architecture in Africa (1960s−1980s)

Abstract

This paper seeks to position socialist China in the mobility of global socialism in the context of Cold-War politics. It examines how the techno-politics of China and the Soviet-bloc's socialist tropical architecture differently reconfigured thermal exchanges between the environment, human body and a series of other multi-scalar things in Africa during the 1960s−1980s. Drawing on the theories of thermal material culture, techno-politics and science and technology studies (STS), it constructs a cross-cultural comparison between China and Soviet-bloc, aiming to achieve a more nuanced techno-political understanding of mid-late twentieth century socialist architecture in the Global South. It also hopes to contribute to recent scholarship about thermal comfort and governance in the context of climate change.