Ijlal Muzaffar

Ijlal Muzaffar is a Professor at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), affiliated with the Department of Theory and History of Art and Design within the School of Art and Design. His academic career bridges architecture, art history, and critical theory, with a focus on globalization, decolonization, and non-Western cultural landscapes.

Education:

• BSc in Mathematics and Physics, University of Punjab, Quaid-I-Azam Campus
• BSD (Bachelor of Science in Design?), Arizona State University
• Master of Architecture (MARC), Princeton University
• PhD in History, Theory, and Criticism of Architecture and Art, MIT

Research interests include the political and environmental dimensions of architectural history, particularly in post-colonial contexts. His work examines how modernist architecture and planning shaped global development narratives, often masking colonial capital imbalances. His book Modernism’s Magic Hat (2024) critiques mid-20th-century architectural projects in Ghana, Nigeria, Venezuela, and Pakistan as mechanisms for displacing colonial burdens onto local populations. Ongoing projects like Settling Dreams explore British colonial land settlements in Sindh (Pakistan), blending oral histories with geopolitical analysis.

Muzaffar co-founded the research platform Aggregate, emphasizing collaborative scholarship. His writings appear in journals, edited volumes, and biennale catalogues.