Assessment of African Vernacular Built Environment and Power: The Case of the Walled City of Zaria, Nigeria

Abstract

Numerous studies proposed models for assessing architecture and power such as Dovey’s Framing places: Mediating power in built form and Njoh’s Forms of power over that analyse the built environment in relation to various forms of power. However, those models deal mainly with the western and/or modern built environment. There is a lack of studies that specifically deal with the vernacular built environment of African societies. This study assesses how power, as a socially constructed discourse, influences and is mediated through African societies’ vernacular built environment. It focuses on the walled city and palace of Zaria, Nigeria. Studies of the built environment in relation to power discourses are continuous processes, and due to the subjectivity of interpretations our research adopts the epistemological approach of constructivism when assessing the socially constructed generation of symbolic meaning. Considering the general discourse of power within built environment, a methodological framework was developed, which focuses on forms of power over. The framework might also be useful for studies of other (African vernacular) built environments. Power over within the vernacular built environment of Zaria is predominantly based on a socially constructed discourse – a fact that is certainly valid for other traditional African built environments as well. It is mediated, visibly and invisibly, through spatial and physical features, including the use of symbols, and deeply embedded in Zaria’s urban form and architecture, especially its palace which conveys the identity and authority of the traditional royal institution.