On the Thresholds of Social Space in Swahili Towns of East Africa

Kód výsledku v IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F49777513%3A23330%2F24%3A43977338" target="_blank" >RIV/49777513:23330/24:43977338 - isvavai.cz</a>

Výsledek na webu

<a href="https://www.brepolsonline.net/content/books/10.1484/M.NAA-EB.5.151679#abstract" target="_blank" >https://www.brepolsonline.net/content/books/10.1484/M.NAA-EB.5.151679#abstract</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1484/M.NAA-EB.5.151679" target="_blank" >10.1484/M.NAA-EB.5.151679</a>

Jazyk výsledku

angličtina

Název v původním jazyce

On the Thresholds of Social Space in Swahili Towns of East Africa

Popis výsledku v původním jazyce

The Swahili coastal towns of East Africa represent a relatively well-known case of urbanism from pre-colonial sub-Saharan Africa. This is, among other factors, thanks to the stone architecture, which is preserved on coastal archaeological sites to this day. This paper explores the idea that the element of boundaries built into the urban environment played an important role in the Swahili towns of the tenth to sixteenth centuries ce. It is argued that it was through thresholds represented on constructed features that boundaries were made permeable, and transitions between social/communal and private/residential space were accentuated. Considering the characteristics of constructed features, it appears that thresholds may have been marked by employing the elements of depth and light in the environment. This paper discusses the meaning of thresholds in association with doorways and courtyards in the houses, as well as in context with low town walls or tombs in the exterior urban space. Recognizing thresholds may hence be used as a possible means of identifying streets and passageways, the existence of which has long been disregarded in precolonial Swahili context for lack of evidence. The specific properties of these thresholds in Swahili urban spaces, including their architectural form, building material and capacity to act on sensory experience, are discussed in order to show how space was attributed with social meaning.

Název v anglickém jazyce

On the Thresholds of Social Space in Swahili Towns of East Africa

Popis výsledku anglicky

The Swahili coastal towns of East Africa represent a relatively well-known case of urbanism from pre-colonial sub-Saharan Africa. This is, among other factors, thanks to the stone architecture, which is preserved on coastal archaeological sites to this day. This paper explores the idea that the element of boundaries built into the urban environment played an important role in the Swahili towns of the tenth to sixteenth centuries ce. It is argued that it was through thresholds represented on constructed features that boundaries were made permeable, and transitions between social/communal and private/residential space were accentuated. Considering the characteristics of constructed features, it appears that thresholds may have been marked by employing the elements of depth and light in the environment. This paper discusses the meaning of thresholds in association with doorways and courtyards in the houses, as well as in context with low town walls or tombs in the exterior urban space. Recognizing thresholds may hence be used as a possible means of identifying streets and passageways, the existence of which has long been disregarded in precolonial Swahili context for lack of evidence. The specific properties of these thresholds in Swahili urban spaces, including their architectural form, building material and capacity to act on sensory experience, are discussed in order to show how space was attributed with social meaning.

Druh

C - Kapitola v odborné knize

CEP obor

—

OECD FORD obor

60102 - Archaeology

Projekt

—

Návaznosti

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Rok uplatnění

2024

Kód důvěrnosti údajů

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Název knihy nebo sborníku

Limiting Spaces: The Attribution of Spatial Meaning through the Creation of Boundaries

ISBN

978-2-503-61749-7

Počet stran výsledku

14

Strana od-do

85-98

Počet stran knihy

187

Název nakladatele

Brepols

Místo vydání

Turnhout

Kód UT WoS kapitoly

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