Arch. Doreen Kyosimire defended her PhD successfully on 10th November 2022 at the College of Engineering, Design, Art and Technology, (CEDAT).
The title of her thesis is: Self-Help Housing Breeds no Contempt: Architecture, Women, Agency and the Transformation of Masese Women’s Self-help Housing Project in Jinja, Uganda.
The study that contributes to the discourse on gender, Architecture, and women’s agency centered on the Masese Women’s Self Help Project in Jinja
During the defence, the researcher was appreciated for the multi sectoral approach with which she undertook her study that blended the humanities with architecture and more aspects of life.
She established that what started off as a self-help project for women who were deemed as vulnerable, widowed or prostitutes, the mass housing project was turned into structures that fitted into the needs of the occupants by adjusting the earlier designs to fit the purpose.
During her defence she mentioned that she took an emancipationist stance to appreciate that issues of widowhood, prostitution gained new meaning as the women in the Masese Women’s Self-help project used their space as a form of resistance and the way they defended their ownership, access and control while transforming their houses that were given to them by the Government of Uganda with support from DANIDA.
Written by Musinguzi Harriet, Principal Communication Officer, CEDAT
Posted by Isemaghendera Alex, Web Administrator, CEDAT