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A Culture of Craft: West Africa (UN)Objectified. [THESIS] (2021)

WINNER - RIBA PRESIDENT'S DISSERTATION MEDAL 2021


ARCHITECTURAL ASSOCIATION DIGITAL ARCHIVAL COLLECTION 2021

“The material world confronts us only to serve as a mirror for social relations” - Bruno Latour.

Any objects held in Europe in association with Africa supersede almost all other items of antiquity in the curiosity that they have historically attracted.

The thesis explores how and why West African objects of particular tribes were crafted, within their respective contexts and the various infrastructures that have existed; and persist in allowing these sacred objects to find themselves dissociated from their socioreligious premise.

The Lobi peoples - an ethnic group were identified as the ideal sample size, furthered through a more detailed understanding of these parameters will proliferate original and thought-provoking propositions.


FULL THESIS BELOW.