Main entry:

Blier, Suzanne Preston, author.

Title & Author:

The anatomy of architecture : ontology and metaphor in Batammaliba architectural expression / Suzanne Preston Blier.

Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 1994.

Description:

xviii, 314 pages : illustrations, maps, plans ; 23 cm

Notes:
Originally published: Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1987.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 297-302) and index.
Ch. 1. Imagines Mundi: Narrative, Ritual, and Architectural Exemplars of Cosmogony -- Ch. 2. Architectural Archetypes: Reflections on Housing in "Paradise" -- Ch. 3. House Temples: Architecture for the Gods -- Ch. 4. Houses Are Human: Architectural Self-images -- Ch. 5. At Home: The Complementarity of House, Family, and Tomb -- Ch. 6. The Power of Architecture: Politics, Protection, and Jurisprudence in House Design and Use -- Ch. 7. "The Dance of Drums": Notes on the Architecture and Staging of Funeral Performances -- Conclusions: Architectural Exegesis: On Building Ontology, Metaphor, and Multiplexity.

Summary:

Blier illuminates the extraordinary architecture of the Batammaliba people of Western Africa, revealing these buildings as texts through which we can read the beliefs, psychology, traditions, and social concerns of their inhabitants. In doing so, she explores the role of vernacular architecture as an expression of culture.

Resources:
Table of contents
Publisher description

ISBN:

0226058611 (pbk. ; alk. paper)
9780226058610 (pbk. ; alk. paper)

Subject:

Somba (African people) Social life and customs.
Architecture Africa, West.
Somba (Peuple d'Afrique) Mœurs et coutumes.
Architecture Afrique occidentale.
Architektur
Sozialstruktur
Somba
Architecture, Somba.
Benin
Togo
Architecture Related to Society
West Africa

Added entries:

Ontology and metaphor in Batammaliba architectural expression

Holdings:

Location: Library main 317114
Call No.: 317114
Copy: 1
Status: Available