Vernacular Architecture - The Maasi Dung Hut

The African Maasai are a semi-nomadic tribe and this lifestyle is the foundation of their architecture traditions. The Maasai are found predominantly in Kenya and Tanzania with an estimated population of a half a million (“Maasi People,” n.d.). There are sixteen geographic sectors of the tribe attributing to some diversity in customs (Maasi People,” n.d.). The Maasai, well known as warriors, are pastoralists (“Maasi Tribe,” n.d.). Cattle are fundamental to the tribe’s survival. The Maasai travel, following the rains for water and in search of grazing lands, to care for their cattle and goats (“Beading,” n.d.). Their herding animals are a key component of their lifestyle and represent their wealth [“Beading,” n.d.).

The building of dung huts represents their architecture tradition. The Maasai dung hut or house is called inkajijik (“Maasai Tribe,” n.d.). The Maasai live in villages, or kraals, each consisting of ten to twenty cow dung huts which form a homestead (“Maasi People,” n.d.). It may be thought of as a village, but it is a collection of huts within an enclosure. A primitive fence or enhang forms a corral about five or six feet high (“Maasi People of Kenya,” n.d.). The fence is built by the men, while the huts are built by the women (“Maasi People,” n.d.). The fence is constructed of sharp acacia thorn bushes which encircle the dung huts. Reeds and branches are woven to create protection, similar to barbed wire, against predators and wild animals (Youngman, n.d.). The herding animals are brought within the enclosure at night for their protection. Set aside from the kraal, is the manyatta, which is more accurately a camp for the unmarried warriors (Youngman, n.d.). It may also contain a larger number of huts.

The Maasai tribe practices polygyny, which means that a man has more than one wife at a time, thus, several families (McQuail, 2001). The married man moves around visiting the dung huts of his different wives and children, and may not live in one hut (Hein, 2004). Each married women builds her own dung hut, where she lives with her children (“Maasai People of Kenya,” n.d.).

The Maasai women’s responsibilities are exhaustive. The women build the dung huts, continually repair the huts, care for the children, milk the cows and goats, monitor the health of the herd, operate the gates to the village and cow pens, collect water, collect firewood, maintain a continuous fire, gather herbs and roots for health, wash clothes, and cook (“Maasai Tribe,” n.d.).

A poignant issue within this Maasai architecture tradition is the role of the woman, who is solely responsible for building the dung huts, as well as maintaining the village. The cow dung huts are built from only natural, indigenous materials, which inherently lack permanence. This is harmonious with their nomadic lifestyle, but means continual work to repair. The technique to build the dung huts is passed down generationally from mother to daughters (“Maasi People of Kenya,” n.d.).

The tradition in constructing the huts involves creating a structure that is typically loaf-shaped or circular. The structural framework is formed by timber poles stuck in the ground. This framework is interwoven with a lattice of smaller branches. A plaster-like mixture is prepared, using a combination of sticks, mud, grass, cow dung, and urine, and the woman covers the outside walls of the dung hut. When it dries, it holds the sticks firmly together, and additional layers are added for strength (McQuail, 2001). The hut is actually quite strong, and surprisingly, it does not smell (Youngman, n.d.). To slow down roof leaks, a compacted mixture of clay soil, sand soil and fire ashes are added to coat the roof (Nkoitol, n.d.).

A Maasai dung hut takes up to seven months to build (“The Maasi: Lifestyle,” n.d.). The front doorway is low and small requiring one to stoop or almost crawl in the entrance (Youngman, n.d.). The inside has a dirt floor, is dark, smoke laden, and may smell from the baby animals kept indoors for safety at night (“The Maasi: Lifestyle,” n.d.). The roof is low and one cannot stand upright (Youngman, n.d.). A fire is in continual use for cooking and warmth (Youngman, n.d.). Typically, the hut is one room. It consists of a permanently made bed constructed of a pile of sticks set up off the dirt floor, sometimes cushioned with dry grass. Cow hides or other animal skins are layered over the sticks to complete the bed (“The Maasi: Lifestyle,” n.d.).

Among the different Maasi groups, customs vary slightly regarding the dung hut architecture. Most have no hole in the roof for escaping smoke, but some do. Most have no windows, but some do. Most are not tall enough to stand up in, but some are. It would seem within different families or regions, their own customs, ideas and experimentation create some variability in the dung hut structures.

The Maasai traditions are coming under attack as the Kenya and Tanzania governments encourage the Maasai to abandon their traditional nomadic lifestyle. They are being contained in less and less landscape (Youngman, n.d.). With new land management systems, single families are living in a kraal, versus multiple families (“Maasi People,” n.d.). They are now forbidden to kill lions because they are an endangered species in Africa, yet killing a lion is a test of manhood for the Maasi warrior and a risk to their livestock and humans (Youngman, n.d.). Urbanization, agriculture cultivation and commercialization are encroaching on their lifestyle (Youngman, n.d.). The women now produce beaded jewelry sold to tourist groups who come to visit the kraal and tour the dung huts (“Beading,” n.d.). The Maasai people have remained resolute, even today, to their age old customs (Youngman, n.d.). There is a Maasai belief which is a sad refrain of their future: “It takes one day to destroy a house but to build a new one will take months, perhaps years. If we destroy our way of life to construct a new one, it will take thousands of years” (“Maasi People of Kenya,” n.d.).

This blog is my response to Encounter Project Three – Architecture Tradition.


REFERENCES

(n.d.). Beading off the beaten path: experiencing maasai art and culture. Retrieved February 27, 2008 from http://www.gonomad.com/features/0504/maasai_women_in_kenya.html

Hein, Lori. (December, 2004). Ribbons of highway. Retrieved February 28, 2008 from
http://ribbonsofhighway.blogspot.com/2004/12/visit-to-masai-manyatta.html

(n.d.). Maasi people. Retrieved February 28, 2008 from
http://www.maasai-association.org/maasai.html

(n.d.). The maasai: lifestyle overview. Retrieved February 27, 2008 from
http://www.warmafrica.com/index/geo/8/cat/2/a/a/artid/46

(n.d.). The maasai people of Kenya an Tanzania. Retrieved February 28, 2008 from
http://www.cccoe.net/africa/maasaipeople.htm

(n.d.). Maasai tribe kenya. Retrieved February 15, 2008 from
http://www.enhols.com/kenya/people/maasai/

McQuail, Lisa. (2001). The maasai of africa. Lerner Publications.

Nkoitol, Simon. (n.d.). The life of a maasai woman. Retrieved February 27, 2008 from
http://www.ofdc.org/story.html

Youngman, Jeremy. (n.d.). The maasi. Retrieved February 15, 2008 from
http://www.masai-mara.com/mmmaa.htm

Family Traditions

My family, as a folk group, is the first to come to mind in relating to traditions. Over the years, various traditions have been established, changed, disappeared, and even reappeared.

Longstanding Tradition that is Disappearing with Time

Not having children, my husband and I have doted on my brother’s two sons, Hugh and John since they were very young. They have always lived in Houston, Texas and we have lived all over the United States. Over the years, school Spring Break has been a week reserved for the boys to come visit wherever we resided. It was a time for their “favorite” aunt and uncle to reconnect with them. We learned what was important to them, spoiled them, exposed them to experiences they might never have had otherwise, and became confidantes as they shared personal issues and asked for our advice. We shared adventures, new and fun things that we hoped would serve to be lasting memories for the boys.

We were conscious in our effort to pass on some of life’s lessons, allowing them to experience new things, not trying to change them but opening their minds to choices and options in life. They took home stories to tell of their time and experiences with Aunt Anna and Uncle Paul. Through the years we have seen them blossom into mature and wonderful young men.

The Spring Breaks with us lessened, during their college years, as they explored new experiences with their friends. They began careers, post-college, working in corporate America, without Spring Breaks and with limited vacation time. In the recent five years, they have visited only once at Spring Break. We re-connected during my IU Spring Break two years ago. It was a rewarding and rejuvenating time together.

This tradition is changing and disappearing as Hugh and John take on new commitments and families of their own. We hope the memories of our times together will be lasting, good memories, and hopefully someday they will pass this tradition to special people in their life.

A Tradition Increasing in Importance

My husband and I, married 23 years, enjoy the visual arts and have been art collectors during this time. Our love of art has inspired us to travel, to see exotic places. Initially, our trips were infrequent, increasing to alternating years, as we juggled life, work, home and family. Our enthusiasm increased and we strived to travel internationally every year.

In recent years, we feel an escalating sense of urgency to explore the world we have not seen. The world is large and our wish list for travel is a long one. We enjoy traveling together, seeing other cultures, and learning each country’s art, architecture, history and customs. Our intensity increases as our age increases. We want to see the world together, so time is of the essence.

A Tradition I Originated

My mother’s family was a large one and there were many family reunions growing up. My mother normally instigated the reunions. The get-togethers were an opportunity for the sixteen cousins to re-connect, play and enjoy each other which created memorable times. As everyone grew up, went to college, started families, and as our mothers and fathers died, the reunions stopped. New nuclear families formed.

In 1997, I moved back to my home state of Texas. I instigated a Cousins Reunion between Christmas and New Year’s at my new home that year. It was the first time we were all together in over thirty years. The party was a huge success, exploring past memories and catching up. We unanimously agreed to do this again. I have continued the reunions each year. They have grown in popularity and expanded as Aunts or Uncles joined in, reminiscent of our past reunions. Staying connected to family is important. My Mother knew this, and subliminally passed it on to me.

This blog entry is my response to the Chapter Three Reflection Question.

Swing Landscape - A Material Object

Stuart Davis’ 1938 oil on canvas painting Swing Landscape, 86 ¾ x 172 7/8 inches, was purchased in 1941 by new art director Henry Hope for the Indiana University Art Museum. The painting represents the harbor waterfront of Gloucester, Massachusetts, an artist colony and fishing harbor visited by Davis most summers between 1915 and 1934 (Philadelphia Museum of Art [PMA], 2005). It became the subject of a number of Stuart Davis paintings. The artist’s inspiration and theme for this artwork are not obvious to the viewer of Swing Landscape without knowing the background of the artwork and its artist. To that end, at first viewing the piece is non-representational. However, as the context of the artist’s history, his cultural influences and his artistic concept are understood, the piece is transformed and becomes an abstract. Stuart Davis was an early adopter of modern and abstract art in America during the Roaring Twenties, the Depression years and the post-war decades of the Twentieth Century. Swing Landscape is one of his most important works (PMA, 2005).

Davis supported himself early in his career doing illustrations for Harper’s Weekly and the radical The Masses, developing left-wing views and a social conscience (The National Archives Learning Curve, n.d.). In 1913, Davis participated as one of the youngest artists in the Armory Show in New York City which introduced European modernistic, avant-garde art to America (Britannica, 2008). Davis later described this show as “the greatest single influence I have experienced in my work” (Britannica, 2008). In the 1920’s, he began studying Picasso’s and Braque’s collage techniques (Painters, n.d.), and then Cubism, focusing on non-French subjects like jazz, radio, film, boats and harbors, and consumer products, “the American scene” (PMA, 2005). His collage work was actually the precursor to Pop Art in 1960’s America (Painters, n.d.). After a year’s sojourn in Paris in 1928, he began developing his own American style, influenced by the French modernists he met in France (Lane, 1978, p. 21). Davis viewed two-dimensional design and content with vibrant, bold colors and simple, abstract, strong forms as the basis of what he considered the new American art – modernism (Painters, n.d.).

Davis was significantly influenced artistically by jazz and swing music – to him, the musical equivalents to abstract art (PMA, 2005). “He spent much time listening to the Negro piano players in Newark dives … [to] hear the blues, or tin-pan alley tunes turned into real music” (Swing Era, n.d.). In America, records and radio made jazz and swing music popular, moving it from an “urban African-American experience” to “America’s most popular musical genre” (Swing Era, n.d.). Davis said “I think all my paintings, at least in part, come from this influence” (PMA, 2005). He listened to records while he painted (Swing Era, n.d.). It may be no small coincidence that this piece is named Swing Landscape. Perhaps swing music was played while he painted it, influencing both its creation and its naming.

In the 1930’s Stuart Davis was artistically adventurous and experimental, assimilating what he learned from his European stay (Wilkin, 1987, p. 128). Financially impacted by the Depression and wanting a broader audience, Davis joined the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration, which commissioned him to create murals for Radio City Music Hall (1932), the New York World’s Fair (1939) and the Swing Landscape mural for the Williamsburg Housing Project (1938) in Brooklyn, New York (PMA, 2005). The Swing Landscape mural was deemed too abstract for American acceptance and was never installed at the housing project. After short stays at the Federal Art Gallery in New York City, and the Cincinnati Modern Art Society, Swing Landscape was purchased by the Indiana University Art Museum, one of the museum’s earliest acquisitions (IU placard, n.d.).

In technically reviewing the primary image of the artwork, the piece is vibrant, including a flurry of activity and movement. The vibrancy comes from the use of primary and secondary hues as well as black and white which lights the canvas. The artist pairs complementary colors multiple times throughout the painting. The predominant colors are blue and red. The activity and movement, as well as interest in the piece, is generated by the pictorial field of objects of varying shapes, sizes, positions, depths, curves and colors that seem to move on the canvas. The artist has created two-dimensionality. The viewer can perceive depth in the pictorial objects, even though there is flatness; Davis relied on color, pattern and line to reflect depth. The piece is busy with a kaleidoscope of detail. The objects consume the entire canvas. There is no negative area in this piece. Its world extends beyond the frame, as objects are cutoff mid-form at the edges of the frame. Both color and form work together to create the images and feelings of the piece.

The painting’s secondary abstract imagery is maritime, with many nautical details: sails, masts, boat riggings, buoys, chains, pulley, ropes, ladders, lobster traps, seaside buildings, and houses submerged in waves and spewing several colors of smoke. The sun is rising or setting on the horizon. There are no people in the harbor area, though there is a feeling of hustle and bustle – a tempo akin to jazz or swing music. Many of Davis’ paintings focused on the working class – a working class harbor was a favorite subject of his to paint. This piece has an architectural or geometric feeling with objects created with both vertical and horizontal painted lines. The artwork is quite large and is best enjoyed from a distance. The viewer must digest this piece slowly; it is not consumable at a glance.

The brush strokes are very visible, not refined, and long, thick and edgy. The pigment is applied to the canvas thickly, impasto style. Light reflects off the white color to contrast with the other hues and intensify the brightness and boldness of the artwork. Davis was attracted to Van Gogh’s technique of vivid colors and generous pigmentation (Lane, 1978, p. 10). This artwork provides some evidence of that.

Swing Landscape is a confluence of abstraction, rhythmic waves and swing music, vivid colors, heavy pigmentation and artistic experimentation, all in the setting of a working class, fishing harbor, a place Davis enjoyed. The painting showcases Davis’ geometric and brightly colored signature style. Stuart Davis had such a pivotal influence on the direction of modern, abstract and pop art in America, based in part on American jazz and swing music. Swing Landscape is a very enjoyable artistic, historical and cultural study.

This blog entry is my response to Encounter Project Two – Material Culture (Object).

References

Encyclopedia Britannica Online. (2008). Stuart davis. Retrieved January 24, 2008) from
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9029523/Stuart-Davis.

(1941). IU art placard

Lane, J. R. (1978). Stuart davis: art and art theory. New York: The Brooklyn Museum.

The National Archives Learning Curve. (n.d.). Stuart davis. Retrieved January 24, 2008,
from http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/ARTdavis.htm.

Painters Biographies (n.d.). Stuart davis. Retrieved January 24, 2008, from
http://www.3d-dali.com/Artist-Biographies/Stuart_Davis.html.

Philadelphia Museum of Art. (2005). Stuart davis and american abstraction: a masterpiece in focus. Retrieved February 12, 2008, from
http://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/2005/82.html.

(n.d.). Swing era: painting the jazz product. Retrieved February 12, 2008, from
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ASI/musi212/emily/davis3.html.

Wilkin, K. (1987). Stuart davis. New York: Abbeville Press.

My Folk Groups

The definition of folk group is “any group of two or more people who share a common factor”, as described by Sims and Stephens (2005, p. 35). By this definition, I have been a part of many such folk groups in my life. The following highlights three of them.

A Family Group – The McCrea/Scanlon Family
I grew up in the McCrea family, with my mom and dad, brother, grandparents, and extended family. I was twenty seven when my father died. My mother married John Scanlon, a wonderful man, who had five children from his first marriage. I became part of the new McCrea/Scanlon family, adding a step-father, step-sister and four brothers, step-aunts and uncles, step-cousins, and step-nieces and nephews. This newly formed folk group was created out of circumstance. All the siblings were adults with their own families (folk groups), separated by geography, and ensconced in their own traditions. This made it hard as a joint family, a new identity, to develop many shared family experiences, habitual practices, values and beliefs. My most precious memories, and I daresay my step-siblings as well, remain those that existed from our first families before the second marriage. Perhaps the lack of regular interaction and lack of proximity play a role. We do have a shared interest, our parents, which we collectively love, protect and share in their care. That is what bonds us.

A School Group – My Harvard Business School Living Group
In 2001, I attended Harvard Business School to obtain a MBA as part of a special International Executive program. There were 138 people in the class, representing 53 countries around the world. This was a very intense program. Everyone lived on-campus in a dorm as part of 8-member living groups, determined by Harvard. My living group of two women and six men was culturally diverse, originating from Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, the Netherlands, Thailand, and the United States. We studied, learned and lived together. We grew to know each other outside the academic arena. Each Saturday night we went to dinner together in Cambridge or into Boston. Though our ethnic backgrounds were different, we became family. We learned each others’ customs, experienced each others’ cuisines, and became each others’ best supporters, keeping confidences and helping overcome the loneliness of missing home and our loved ones. Our living group was a manifestation of the school’s formal program. We came together because we had similar management skills and interest in furthering our education and careers. In the process we became close friends for life, a folk group. We stay in touch through the Internet, the Harvard five year class reunions and we meet each other whenever business or pleasure trips take us to each others’ countries. We have two personas. One identity is as part of the Harvard Business School graduating class of 2001, but as or more importantly we identify as a close knit pseudo-family, bonded through our Harvard experiences and our ongoing communication.

An Occupational Group – The Ladies Champagne Brunch Group
This was an informal social group (folk group) who met once a month on a Sunday for brunch and camaraderie. We were five women in middle management positions (identity), who felt thwarted by the glass ceiling. It was an event that brought us together (circumstance). A man at work had been promoted to a position we felt should have gone to one of us women, which was our impetus to get together to commiserate (shared interest). We found our time together to be cathartic. The champagne helped the process along. We strategized about how to be more successful in the future (job skills and hierarchy), and decided to keep meeting (informally) monthly to gossip, to share strategies and to have a release for our frustrations (esoteric factor). Ultimately two of us were promoted. Other women were invited to join us as our new group identity solidified. The reputation of the Ladies Champagne Brunch became notorious - a legend to women who desired to be included and feared by men who believed it was a sinister plot against them (exoteric factors).

This blog entry is my response to the Chapter Two Reflection Question.

References

Sims, M. C., & Stephens, M. (2005). Living folklore an introduction to the study of people and their traditions. Utah: Utah State University Press.