New York Afropolitan

Thursday, May 22, 2025, 6 - 8pm

Add to Calendar

Graphic with title and image of CPL

What is the New York Afropolitan? Learn more about this joint project conceptualized by Mokena Makeka, director of The Cooper Union Civic Projects Lab (CPL), and Matthew Barac, director of London Metropolitan University Center for Urban and Built Ecologies (CUBE) and the CPL’s inaugural civic scholar. 

The term “Afropolitanism” refers to a way of being African in the world—of being “African” and “cosmopolitan” and of observing African cultures themselves as hybridities formed from many different influences and roots. The term is attributed to African diaspora author Taiye Selasi and Cameroonian philosopher Achille Mbembe.  

This free program and reception marks the first of an ongoing collaboration between the CPL and CUBE to promote research and dialogue on architecture and urban studies with particular attention to civic engagement and creative cultures. Traditional attire welcome, but not required.    

More Events & Exhibitions

  • Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.

  • “My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”

  • From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.

  • Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.