Jackie Joseph Paul McFarland

Jackie Joseph Paul McFarland joined Carnegie Mellon Architecture as the recipient of the 2021-22 Joseph F. Thomas Visiting Professorship. He continues as Visiting Special Faculty for the 2022-23 and 2023-24 academic years.

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.