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Building Power in Rural Hinterlands: An Ethnoarchaeological Study of Vernacular Architecture in Tigray, Ethiopia

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In Tigray, Ethiopia highland farmers and noblemen used a common vernacular architecture to build places of political authority and power during the last century of Ethiopia's feudal economy. This study contributes to the perspective that domestic houses are active political locales integrated into the larger political landscape. In addition, it is argued that vernacular architectural style generates hierarchical power in part by manipulating building strategies usually attributed to monumental construction. The study concludes that vernacular architecture is actively engaged in rendering a political aesthetic that reproduces state authority in rural hinterlands.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am especially grateful to the Tigrayan households that participated in this study, the ARCCH, and Dr. Catherine D’Andrea (Simon Fraser University). The work of Ethiopian field assistants and interpreters, especially Zelealam Tesfay and Michael Sowbeka, was critical to the success of the study. Special thanks also to Dr. Nigel Waters (University of Calgary) for his enormous help with statistics and to Drs. Nicholas David, Gerry Oetelaar and Andrea Freeman (University of Calgary) for their insightful comments and suggestions on the manuscript. All errors of course are mine. Thanks also to Kees de Ridder who created Fig. 1. Research presented in this paper was funded by grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and Simon Fraser University, and support from the University of Calgary.

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  1. Department of Archaeology, University of Calgary, 8th Floor Earth Sciences Building, 2500 University Drive N.W., Calgary, Alberta, T2N 1N4, Canada

    Diane E. Lyons

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Lyons, D.E. Building Power in Rural Hinterlands: An Ethnoarchaeological Study of Vernacular Architecture in Tigray, Ethiopia. J Archaeol Method Theory 14, 179–207 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-007-9031-7

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