Swahili Port Cities: The Architecture of Elsewhere (African Expressive Cultures)

On the Swahili coast of East Africa, monumental stone houses, tombs, and mosques mark the border zone between the interior of the African continent and the Indian Ocean. Prita Meier explores this coastal environment and shows how an African mercantile society created a place of cosmopolitan longing. Meier understands architecture as more than a way to remake local space. Rather, the architecture of this liminal zone was an expression of the desire of coastal inhabitants to belong to places beyond their homeports. Here architecture embodies modern ideas and social identities engendered by the encounter of Africans with others in the Indian Ocean world. On the Swahili coast of East Africa, monumental stone houses, tombs, and mosques mark the border zone between the interior of the African continent and the Indian Ocean. Prita Meier explores this coastal environment and shows how an African mercantile society created a place of cosmopolitan longing. Meier understands architecture as more than a way to remake local space. Rather, the architecture of this liminal zone was an expression of the desire of coastal inhabitants to belong to places beyond their homeports. Here architecture embodies modern ideas and social identities engendered by the encounter of Africans with others in the Indian Ocean world. Book jacket Cover 1 Contents 8 Acknowledgments 10 INTRODUCTION: The Place In-between 18 1 Difference Set in Stone: Place and Race in Mombasa 43 2 A “Curious” Minaret: Sacred Place and the Politics of Islam 83 3 Architecture Out of Place: The Politics of Style in Zanzibar 119 4 At Home in the World: Living with Transoceanic Things 156 CONCLUSION: Trading Places 196 Appendix 206 Notes 208 Bibliography 228 Index 238 A 238 B 239 C 239 D 240 E 240 F 240 G 240 H 241 I 241 J 242 K 242 L 242 M 242 N 244 O 244 P 244 Q 245 R 245 S 245 T 246 U 246 V 246 W 246 Y 246 Z 246