Jackie Joseph Paul McFarland
Jackie Joseph Paul McFarland joined Carnegie Mellon Architecture as the recipient of the 2021-22 Joseph F. Thomas Visiting Professorship. Jackie's research and creative practice focus on understanding and putting into context the experiences of African Americans' relationships to space and place. It asks the question, “Is it possible to have a Black architecture?” and aspires to a Black Praxis. By applying Black theoretical practices – Afropessimism, Afrofuturism, Necropolitics – he steps outside Eurocentric theory to better understand not only the Black experience, but the experiences of “othered” groups. His work allows space to be created for those who are “othered” by Eurocentric ideology to center themselves as complete human beings who have a voice and perspectives that add to the ability for architecture to create solutions for a diverse world. Jackie received his professional Master of Architecture degree from Portland State University and a Master of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Spring 2025 Teaching
This course examines the issues of the destruction and reconstruction of buildings and cities. In doing so, we raise questions about the nature of architecture and cityscapes, cultural loss and cultural recovery, and how buildings and cities have come to represent other issues such as national identity and progress.