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