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This volume is an empirical study examining the extent to which historic and iconic architecture and spaces in Zimbabwe - particularly in urban areas - have been mobilized to construct and reconstruct identities. The author explores the question of traditional and political architecture through analysis of a variety of structures, including monuments, museums, and indigenous and state buildings. Special attention is paid to the soapstone-carved Zimbabwe Bird, which for years has served as the national emblem. Overall, this book argues that while the production and use of architectural products and spaces have been regarded symbols of collective identity, they have also served as expressions of power and control.
List of contents
Chapter 1: Introduction.- Chapter 2: Framing iconic architecture: Context and dimensions.- Chapter 3: Materialization, space and identity.- Chapter 4: Inside Indigeneity and Iconicity: The African traditional hut.- Chapter 5: The sociology of museums and monuments.- Chapter 6: State buildings: Patterns and processes of materialization.- Chapter 7: The Zimbabwe Bird: The sovereign architecture.- Chapter 8: Religious architecture in Zimbabwe: a critical anthropological treatise.- Chapter 9: Urban informality and spatial re-figuration.- Chapter 10: Gender, architecture and space.- Chapter 11: Summary and conclusion.
About the author
Langtone Maunganidze holds a PhD in Sociology obtained from the University of Zimbabwe. He is an Advanced Researcher and Senior Faculty member at the Midlands State University in Zimbabwe and a visiting scholar at the Global Center of Spatial Methods for Urban Sustainability (GCSMUS), at Technische Universitat (TU) in Berlin, Germany. Dr. Maunganidze’s experience in advanced degree supervision and thesis examination has taken him to numerous universities in Africa. His teaching and research interest areas include Architectural Sociology, Corporate Citizenship, Society and Digital Media, Industrial Sociology and Spatial Methods, and has published numerous academic pieces mainly book chapters and journal pieces within the scope of the stated interest areas. He has also co-edited a widely read text: “Corporate citizenship: Business and society in Botswana. Palgrave, Macmillan”.
