Architecture and Power in Africa / Edition 1

by Nnamdi Elleh

Overview

Two of the most ambitious religious edifices of the 20th century are the Our Lady of Peace Basilica in the West African country of the Ivory Coast and the Hassan II Mosque in Morocco. Nnamdi Elleh not only provides a substantial architectural and pictorial analysis of the buildings themselves. Using these two buildings as case studies, he also investigates questions of national memory, urban form, architectural styles, concepts of democracy, social hierarchies as well as the elites who make the decisions to build Africa's post-independence monuments and capital cities. His book is an exciting synthesis of theoretical and empirical analysis that is bound to stimulate debate about the form and content of post-colonial identities in Africa.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780275976798
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	12/30/2002
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	200
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

NNAMDI ELLEH is Assistant Professor of Architecture at the College of Design, Art, Architecture & Planning (DAAP), and was a Samuel Ittleson Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study In the Visual Arts (CASVA), National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Table of Contents

CONTENTSCONTENTSContentsIllustrationsixForeword by David Van ZantenxiForeword by Jane I. GuyerxiiiPrefacexviiAcknowledgmentsxxiiiIntroduction1Icons of Crisis1Architecture and Power in Africa6The Premise151.Experiencing the Monuments29The Process29Deploying the Personalities in the Monuments57The Social Settings68Funding the Monuments842.Designing the Monuments and the Cities93The Architects93The Ideologies100The Styles of Architecture112Urban Design Ambitions of the Monuments1233.The Leaders, the Monuments, and the Peoples143Understanding the Monuments143The Peoples and the Monuments144Conclusion: A Critique of Utopian Art in Africa, 1960–2000161Glossary of Select Architectural Terms171Index173