Mapping the Myth

Somewhere outside of Lake Charles, Louisiana, I exited I-10 and pulled into the parking lot of a PJ’s Coffee. Long drives are usually the one time I patronize Starbucks, but Starbucks is one of several companies that I (and hopefully you) am actively boycotting. So, before leaving New Orleans that morning bound for Houston, I plotted out my stop at PJ’s.

Sipping on a festive latte, I opened the email invitation for what the Paris-based magazine The Funambulist billed as “a teach-in for all architecture students” on settler colonialism in Palestine. Nearly 8,000 people had RSVP’d for the event, more than twice the number that the American University of Cairo’s Zoom account had the capacity to host; the spillover crowd was directed to join the livestream on the Funambulist Youtube page. The magazine’s editor, Léopold Lambert, promptly appeared on the screen, apologizing to attendees in less-than-ideal time zones (6:00 p.m. in Paris is 6:00 a.m. in New Zealand is 11:00 a.m. in southwestern Louisiana). “I have 175 slides,” he said, “so brace yourself.”

One aim of Lamber…