Architectures of belonging

What is a house? What is dwelling? How can a house be a body? What does "being modern" mean in rural Africa? How are local and global worlds intertwined through material culture? This book reflects on the meanings of housing in West Africa by analysing vernacular architectural traditions and the related ideas and worldviews grounding these building traditions. In the West, much attention is paid to the quality of housing in terms of material comfort and durability. However, houses no longer grow organically, and are no longer layered by time, or embedded in a social community and intertwined with the natural environment. The house, and even more the interior of the house, has become an expression of the individuality of the inhabitant (witness the whole marketing of lifestyle, design, interior decoration, cocooning, etcetera). Paradoxically, though, this goes hand in hand with the erosion of the house as a signifier. Houses are becoming almost generic realities, without a memory or a past, the anonymous results of mass-production, or the interchangeable, standardized products of a globalised Ikea and turnkey culture. Many of the important phases of the lifecycles of the inhabitants no longer unfold within the house, but are evacuated to spaces external to it (hospitals, restaurants, hotels, party rooms, funeral homes, banquet halls). In contrast to the poor signifier that the Western house has become, the chapters in this book analyse the rich meanings embedded in the processes of dwelling in rural West African worlds, with a specific emphasis on Ghana and Burkina Faso. At the same time, the authors document the changes that are manifest in the material and social structures of these houses, and show the flexibility and responsiveness of traditional practices of building and dwelling when confronted with the influences of urban modernity. As such, this reflection on local architectural forms also deals with many of the challenges and issues currently facing Africa.