Object Details
- Local Numbers
- EENG-VII-27, 17.
- General
- Title source: Index card based on photographer's notes.
- Photographer
- Elisofon, Eliot
- Collection Photographer
- Elisofon, Eliot
- Place
- Africa
- Niger
- Topic
- Vernacular architecture
- Cultural landscapes
- Mural painting and decoration
- Photographer
- Elisofon, Eliot
- Culture
- Hausa (African people)
- See more items in
- Eliot Elisofon Field collection
- Eliot Elisofon Field collection / Niger
- Extent
- 1 Negatives (photographic) (b&w, 35mm.)
- Date
- 1971
- Archival Repository
- Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art
- Identifier
- EEPA.1973-001, Item EEPA EENG 09945
- Type
- Archival materials
- Negatives (photographic)
- Black-and-white negatives
- Negatives
- Collection Citation
- Eliot Elisofon Field Collection, EEPA 1973-001, Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution
- Collection Rights
- Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
- Genre/Form
- Black-and-white negatives
- Negatives
- Scope and Contents
- "The Hausa, with their use of reinforced mud construction, have developed a sophisticated, almost modular, architectural technology (Moughtin). The house consists of rooms within or surrounding a courtyard or forming two or more courtyards. The complex is demarcated by a wall giving privacy and security to the family. The compound so formed contains the main social and economic unit, the simple or extended family. The form of the Hausa house has also been adapted to suit the privacy requirements of Islam. It is surrounded by a 3-4 m mud wall entered through one gateway. The central part of the facade is generally a well-balanced composition of the entrance, the windows, pilasters and a frieze with phallic elements. A monumental facade indicates the status and position of the man as the head of the extended family and manager of a trade network that could extend to all Northern africa." [Oliver P., 1998: Vernacular Architecture of the World. The Savanna Grasslands. Cambridge University Press]. This photograph was taken when Eliot Elisofon was on assignment for Westinghouse Film and traveled to Africa from October 26, 1970 to end of March 1971.
- Collection Restrictions
- Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
- Record ID
- ebl-1536870822481-1536871015371-3
