**6. The African village "reconstructed": architecture and naming**

The "village" concept reveals African cultural values, which include and designed to reveal a sense of community life, a sense of good human relations, a sense of the sacredness of life, a sense of hospitality, a sense of time, a sense of language, and proverbs to mention a few. The vernacular architecture and naming of the above places against the "village concept," hence, signify and symbolize much of this African village concept. To appreciate the African values attached to the "village," we note that in terms of the "sense of community life" offered by the African village; traditionally, Africans believe that the community is the custodian of the individual. In the material reference to the phrase, the individual must thus return or go to the "community center" or village square, which is a social, political, judicial, and religious center.

 Of the view that, "today, many urban Africans coming from a village and argue that it is in the village where traditional African culture can still be found" ([6], p. 51), it follows the locals in Zimbabwe after the FTLRP by ridding on the village concept are in fact aiming at establishing as well as producing locality in order to redefine themselves as "actors who properly belong to a situated community of kin, neighbors, friends, and enemies" ([29], p. 179). Lucifer, in *Waiting for the Rain* [4]*,* returns to the "village" before undertaking his journey abroad. Much of the class of western and African cultures as well as reflections of the dilemmas that Lucifer faces are revealed by his being back "home," the village, which in this case is the "community center."

 Furthermore, in terms of the "sense of good human relations" attached to the village concept, we learn that relationship between individuals reveal their worth as human beings, hence, the art of dialog, discussion of problems, and searching for solutions through dialog. Within the spaces presented above such as *KwaMaiguru/ KwaGulez* (my brother's wife's place), *PaMaGumbo*, (a place of one of the *Gumbo*/ Leg totem), *PaNdari* (the Shabeen), and *PaMusha* (at the homestead), which are open spaces, revelers gather over traditional meals and drinks "dialoguing" as well as discussing social, political, and economic problems that became characteristic of the Zimbabwean situation especially at the dawn of the twenty-first century ushered in by the radical land reform program.

In social conversations cited above, identification of each other and general "totemic" use to reflect individual ties is common, traditional and brings about a sense of belonging. Hence, *PaMaGumbo* (a place of one of the *Gumbo*/Leg totem) is no accident as it is purely a place name heavily enshrined with totemic connotations. There is no doubt that Africans believe extensively and express their totemic connections. No wonder the then President of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, characterized Africans who opposed his rule as lacking "totems" in direct reference to people of European descent, who had migrated to Zimbabwe or expressed connections as well as ties to be Zimbabwean.

 In terms of *PaMaGumbo,* therefore, those of the *Gumbo*/Leg totem, as well as those who may have been brought into contact with those of the Leg totem (by marriage or otherwise), find homage and accommodation in such spaces from which they can also call them home. One, therefore, reads a systematic as well as deliberate choice of designing, constructing, and naming of the places and spaces not only to reveal the village concept, but also to market the place using a great deal of the dictates of the African heritage. Hence, not only has the village been reconstructed and economized, but its values also such as totems, modes of relations, and communications are molded deliberately to bring economic value to owners of the spaces as well as the urban community at large.

 *KwaMaiguru/KwaGulez* (my brother's wife's place) signifies hospitality. *Maiguru* (Shona for one's brother's wife) or in urban lingo "*Gulez*" symbolize hospitality especially in as far as food and drink are concerned. The places while serving modern dishes, bias is mostly on traditional African dishes or menus from which revelers through consumption of the food reflect easiness as well as feel at home in "*Maiguru*'*s*" sanctuary. What is interesting here is also the fact that ownership of *KwaMaiguru/ KwaGulez* and even *PaMaGumbo* are women, reflecting women's involvement as well as participation in economic establishments of these restaurants. *KwaMaiguru/ KwaGulez* and even *PaMaGumbo* are feminine, hence communicating connections to women of Africa and their role in cultural communication and basic operations of African life in general. Hence, owners of these spaces deliberately name them ridding heavily on traditional relationships as bound up within and by the village concept.

To reveal aspects of traditional African architecture characterizing the new spaces and how these have been enriched, an appeal to the structures is worthwhile. Hence, the physical structures marking the spaces are important. The African village, traditionally, is characterized by the "hut"; in other words, the hut is made up of wooden poles and clay soils are used to patch up the walling poles. In terms of the roof, again wooden poles are used and they are grass thatched. The buildings are conically shaped, and a collection of such huts in a defined space creates a "village" as exemplified in **Figure 2a** and **b**.

In modern spaces, the same concept (as shown in **Figure 1**) is also being used where grass thatched buildings (but now in brick and cement walls) are now the common feature (see **Figure 2a** and **b**). The shape or designs of the buildings are conical, and the roofs are grass thatched as exemplified in **Figure 2a** and **b**.

In some lodges, for instance, "the village lodge" in Gweru (Midlands Province) offers overnight accommodation, and rooms are "huts" (although equipped with modern furniture and other utilities inside as shown in **Figure 2c** and **d**). One sees dotted huts within the physical spaces where the lodges have been built. The rooms are also named (rather than numbered) after either game or totems. This represents much of the traditional African village and its surroundings.

Second, the food served involves traditional meats, insects, grasses, and vegetables. Utensils used are wooden symbolizing much of the African village practices on food consumption.Meals come in to complete the ends of the architecture and designs The outdoor spaces of the lodges are designed as if to place patrons in a "bush" bringing them close to "nature" as shown by **Figure 2e**. One has a sense of the natural ambience and for Africans such set-ups trigger nostalgia.

Furthermore, entertainment provided in the same spaces as well as the general ambient reflects African traditions as well. Traditional music, dances, and performances are organized for revelers especially in lodges and those restaurants located at the outskirts of towns and cities. These three characteristics enrich the buildings

*Repackaging "Traditional" Architecture of the African Village in Zimbabwe DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.81450* 

#### **Figure 1.**

*Typical African village made up of conically shaped and grass thatched grass.* 

and their names chosen as the spaces named should have characteristics that support the totality of that which is found in a traditional village.

The reconstruction of the African village is, thus, observed from a number of fronts. First, there is a deliberate designing and construction of the new spaces. The "huts" are conical in shape and now being constructed using modern building materials in tandem with changes that have happened over the years. While traditionally poles were used, due to advances in technology, modern bricks, and cement are now being used for walling. However, the roofing is made up of treated poles and is grass thatched. The processes involved in upholding the architecture under discussion reveal costs implications at the same time bringing about some economic activities involved in the construction and maintenance of such spaces. To exemplify this, we note that suppliers of food stuffs to be prepared such as insects, traditional grasses (and vegetables), meats, and so on have taken an economic drive.

During the construction phases themselves, the grass is bought, and treated tree poles are supplied and used with modern building materials such as cement and bricks to create an African ambient. Traditional dance groups as well as musicians of traditional music such as *mbira* all participate for a fee. While we read culture and heritage being displayed and consumed, the same culture and heritage has been economized through a reconstruction of the African village in such a manner that locals have found economic opportunities from selling their culture, this time not only to foreigners as tourists but also to their own kin. Visiting such spaces for local revelers is like a journey back to the village from which the pressures of the urban landscape are quenched. Colonialism witnessed a huge influx of Africans migrating to the cities for economic reasons [6]. Such migrations with time resulted in Africans having to move between the city and rural home quiet frequently. As it were,

*…others resided in the cities for many years. But even those who spent their entire working life in the city intended eventually to return to their hometowns. This is reflected in the visits that many of the more permanent migrants made to the village, usually around Christmas. ([6], p. 62)* 

**Figure 2.** 

*(a) Round huts built with modern materials, (b) grass thatched huts for a lodge, (c) a view from the inside modern hut, (d) how some of the lodges are advertised, and (e) the ambience and outdoor set-ups of the lodges.* 

 But for Zimbabwe, while van den Bersselaar's [6] views are valid, even in historic Zimbabwe, the land reform program further redefined and created more opportunities for a greater percentage of the population to migrate to the city mostly for economic opportunities. In some cases, there is a total disconnection of some Zimbabweans from their rural homes especially under circumstances where none of their parents are surviving who in most cases are the elderly who may have retired to their rural homes. Hence, visiting newly created villages in the cities is thus in some cases symbolic journeys to their villages as well as their past. Further engaging the above, Saidi [30] observed that,

*Given that Africans have for long battled with cultural erosion and identity crisis, African people exhibit and continue to reflect effects of spiritual tension with their culture and environment. Their connections to "mother earth" have over the years been loosened. However, with vernacular architecture and the recreation of the "new" landscape, it is hoped that the feeling of reconnection and returning to the source can be awakened as the concretization of the meanings of nature and aspects from their natural environment communicated through objects that trigger visualization, representation and symbolization of their heritage can foresee creation of a place where buildings act as an extension of the interior as well as cultural and spiritual space. (p. 13)* 

This reflects a great deal of aspects of heritage conservation, which is being done architecturally. Heritage can be both tangible and intangible, and there is a thin line that divides the two. Tangible heritage refers to the material objects that are seen or those that can be touched. On the other hand, "intangible heritage" generally refers to that heritage, which is usually experienced. According to "intangible heritage, it is often regarded as traditional culture that reflects the identity of a particular nation or group."

From the above submission, the architecture of the new spaces discussed above has become the pivot for the tangible and intangible heritage more so that the traditional village concept has come to be conserved in a unique way and continues to be used in contemporary times. The conclusion that Hărmănescu and Enache [31] make in as far as vernacular knowledge in architecture is concerned come in handy. They say that,

*The past offers growth recourses for the future through the knowledge gained. In this case, the future should recognize the past value offering identity of those who use and transmit knowledge. To ignore the past, the vernacular knowledge of a place means to waste resources knowledge of a place. (p. 415)* 

 This speaks to efforts far removed from the increasingly and deliberate strategies in the twenty-first century "to preserve and conserve natural areas to prevent their degradation and to halt the innumerable attacks to which the industrial model of economic development has subjected the planet" ([31], p. 29). While the world has been so grossed with conserving "natural areas" by enacting legislature for instance, there has not been interest in coming up with the strategies to conserve some important aspects, especially intangible heritage in Africa. For Zimbabwe, therefore, the vernacular architecture has come to play this conservation role of culture as the landscape heavily came under construction within terrains far removed from natural sites where international legislature may force the country to protect the landscape. It is also important to note that what is being conserved here are not the buildings per se but the traditional architectural designs, activities, relations, and cultural identities of spaces, thereby promoting consumption as well as "visualization, representation, and symbolization" ([30], p. 13) of Africa's habitant heritage.

 Shetabi [32] points out that built heritage has an important role to play in them expressing tangible and intangible values. In other words, buildings, based on their architecture, names and objects therein, are visual links to the past, revealing how communities evolve socially, technologically, and culturally. The above discussed buildings and spaces are proof to this line of thinking in Zimbabwe. These efforts should be encouraged because if the world is experiencing "the largest wave of urban growth in history" ([33], p. 1) and that by 2050 and that by 2050, 66% of the world's population will reside in urban areas [33], it also means that the entire world is currently experiencing challenges in terms of balancing cultural heritage conservation and the requirements of urbanization. Zhang et al. ([33], p. 1) are thus right to point out that

*In this context, sustainable development, which is a complex, multidimensional, and evolving concept that encompasses environmental, economic, social, developmental, and cultural components, is highly valued worldwide.* 

It follows, therefore, that Zimbabwe has begun to witness architectural maneuvers in seeking to balance environmental, economic, social, developmental, and cultural components in which mere citizens are taking a leading role as custodians of their heritage by turning their private spaces into cultural centers that house vernacular architecture.

## **7. Conclusion**

Broadly speaking, the designs, constructions, and naming of lodges and restaurants after the FTLRP signify African traditional sensibilities recreated in the urban terrain. It further means that not everything has been lost in as far as cultural values are concerned among Zimbabweans. The "new" lodges and restaurants represent the African sensibilities and subsequently identity in a contemporary global village. In the same breath, we may, however, be forced to make an aside that if places, whose primary function is for business or money making, are constructed and named using traditional sensibilities, how far are the cultural values given center stage?

 There is no doubt that constructions and naming of the places are also a marketing strategy where owners draw from their culture, and there is no sure way of ascertaining whether this is a purely economic drive, cultural drive, or both. Whether owners are conscious to cultural values or not, in what has been characterized by the likes of Ngugi [2] as Africa's problem being led by the culturally eroded and neo-colonial elites, there is evidence of attempts to recreate the traditional African family based on the village concept. From the nature of buildings and their names, it cannot be divorced that locals share and communicate the traditional past through physical objects, space, and the various aspects therein such as artifacts, foods, music, and dance.

Perhaps, this is so because there has been a realization that indigenous identity is important for the survival of any people. Hence, the repackaging of new spaces is not only for cultural survival, but also for economic redefinition supported by heritage through vehicles such as vernacular architecture and names of these public spaces like lodges and restaurants. These are efforts in Zimbabwe to "Africanize" the urban terrain. Therefore, urban buildings and their names as well as studies of the same indeed can help greatly in packaging indigenous knowledge systems for the survival of African heritage. We note that the urban landscape/spaces can actually store and communicate the heritage as well as history of the African people if systematic packaging and support is rendered to initiatives such as discussed above. We should be on the lookout, however, that at the center of it, all should be value exerted on culture and heritage since tagging monetary figures on traditional values may see traditions being consumed without pedigree desires for conservation, and this may be detrimental to that which has been left of the African heritage.

*Repackaging "Traditional" Architecture of the African Village in Zimbabwe DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.81450* 
