Joseph Aranha, Texas Tech University

Professor Joe Aranha teaches in the College of Architecture at Texas Tech University. His interest in photography as a means of experiencing and representing connections between culture and the built environment began in SE Asia several decades ago whist teaching in Malaysia.

Since then he has shown his work in India, Thailand, Lebanon, Ethiopia, Portugal, Spain and at TTU. His photo essays portray built environments within the context of the people who build and use them and have covered a diverse range of urban, rural and tribal settlements from SE Asia, India, China, North and South Africa, the Middle East and parts of Latin America. Professor Aranha also uses his photographs in teaching a course on Architecture in nonwestern societies.

Aranha has been a recipient of two Fulbright teaching/research awards to Zimbabwe and Ethiopia. He has been a Fulbright Specialist directing specialized architecture design studios in India and Mexico. 

For many years he has also initiated and taught study abroad courses for the College of Architecture and the Honors College in collaboration with universities in Spain, Mexico and India.  Most recently he was a participant with a team of TTU faculty in a two year internationally sponsored higher education project aimed at graduate programs at Jimma University and Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Construction and City Development (EiABC), Ethiopia.

Aranha is hoping to return to continue fieldwork in Bali, Indonesia in 2021.