Africana Periodical Literature 
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 Periodical article |
 Leiden University catalogue |
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| Title: | Constructing Identity: 16th and 17th Century Architecture in the Gambia-Geba Region and the Articulation of Luso-African Ethnicity |
| Author: | Mark, Peter |
| Year: | 1995 |
| Periodical: | History in Africa |
| Volume: | 22 |
| Pages: | 307-327 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic terms: | West Africa Portugal |
| Subjects: | ethnicity international trade architectural history History and Exploration Architecture and the Arts Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) |
| External link: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/3171919 |
| Abstract: | The establishment of communities of Luso-African traders in the 16th and 17th century makes the Gambia-Casamance-Bissau area important to the study of early sustained interaction between Europeans and West Africans. One result of the establishment of Portuguese and Luso-African trading communities on the northern Upper Guinea coast (present-day Gambia, Senegal and Guinea-Bissau) was the development of a distinctive style of architecture, suited to the climate and making use of locally available building materials. This article examines the 'Portuguese' building style of the local Luso-African communities in connection with the articulation of Luso-African ethnicity, and addresses several related questions, such as: What were the respective roles of Africans, Europeans, and Luso-Africans in the development of a distinctive architectural style? Is it possible to discern the influence of evolving Luso-African construction on local African architecture? And of local building styles on Afro-European construction? In other words, to what extent does architecture reflect mutual, two-way interaction between European and African society? Notes, ref. |
