Celebrating diversity : an exploration into African contributions to Caribbean residential architecture
Name
15463845-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
30.07 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
ac22792c2be5ccf768d7a291b92c99fc
Author(s)
Harris, Patricia Elaine
Advisor(s)
Nabeel Hamdi.
Alternative Title
Exploration into African contributions to Caribbean residential architecture
Date Issued
1986
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
The purpose of this thesis is to document, through observation and research, architectural elements of a culture that have contributed to the development of another. As such it represents a way of thinking about the impact of architecture on culture and of culture on architecture. The len~ for this focus is the contributions of African people brought to the Caribbean during the European Slave Trade (1520's--1860's). As it essentially was a world region where the influence of indigenous people was negligible due to their early demise and general lack of an extensively developed architecture, it may almost be regarded as a 'clean slate' upon which the Europeans and Africans devised an architecture based on climate, materials, and tradition modified by colonization/enslavement. As climate and materials were generally similar to those found in Africa, tradition may be considered the most important aspect of this process and is the basis for this thesis and for the exploration of the following questions: What did Africans do to contribute to the architecture of the Caribbean; how did they say, "We are here?" What may have been present in the physical landscape, built and natural, that gave Africans brought to the New World any sense of familiarity of place in an otherwise alien environment? What are some of their contributions that have survived, either through transferal or transformation, physically tangible or attitudinal, that are present in the Caribbean today? In general, what do people do to affect the physical environment when they are in positions of social and economic powerlessness?
Description
Thesis (M. Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1986.
MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH.
Bibliography: p. 177-180.
Subjects
Architecture.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Architecture
Terms of Use
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