This 'life-in-architecture' study displays the world view and the socio-economic and cosmological organization of several African peoples, including the Fulbe, Tokolor, Sereer, Joola, Soninke, Mandingo, Jaxanke, and Bassari. Bourdier and Trinh connect setting, design, decoration, and orientation to kinship, gender, history, oral traditions, poetry, and religions. Through photographs, drawings, and theoretical reflections, the authors challenge the common perception of traditional dwellings as static artifacts. Jean-Paul Bourdier's beautifully detailed drawings bring the material alive with cut-away bird's-eye views that reveal the complex patterning of structures and their relationship to inhabitants' activities.
- ISBN10 0253330432
- ISBN13 9780253330437
- Publish Date 1 January 1997
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 28 August 2012
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Indiana University Press
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 344
- Language English