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77 SPACE, COLOR AND QUALITY OF LIFE IN A NUBIAN ENVIRONMENT. Diana Kamel and Aleya Abdel-Hadi Abstract Introduction The Egyptian Nubians relocated after the construction of the High Dam South of Aswan to a completely Over the past half-century, Egypt has undergone different setting, adjusted with difficulty to their new fundamental changes in its built environment. environment and changed part of it to suit their In the name of progress and modernization, an needs. This paper is a longitudinal study; it deals with old and homogeneous urban culture has been the issue of continuity in the patterns of lifestyle within replaced by patterns, which were borrowed the present Egyptian Nubian community. The aim is to from the industrialized countries of the West, seek evidence on such continuity and to explain the thus leading to a totally alien environment repercussions of previous socio-economic values on (Christians et al. 1984: 408). Similarly, the the actual residential built and lived-in environment. The methodology is based on earlier studies that Egyptian Nubians, ‘a definable group’, once were done before relocation and immediately after, described as a closed society, were relocated also on site visits made by the authors to detect the after the construction of the High Dam South of current aspects of the built-environment. The field Aswan to a completely different environment. study focuses on changes made to the interior and They adjusted with difficulty and made some exterior spaces, on the use of decorative patterns and changes to their new place. color of the walls and on the residents’ lifestyle. The tools for data gathering are annotated photographs The ‘definable groups’ who were once and semi-structured interviews. The cases are chosen closed/tribal, relatively small, isolated and from a random sample in one of the 33 villages that unaccultured societies: ‘vulnerable ethnic constitute the Kom-Ombo site – the village of Eneba (Aniba). Results show evidence of change in all minorities’, are found in different parts of the investigated aspects with a slight continuity in some world; the rainforest Indians of South America of the culturally related values. and the pygmies or bushmen of Central and South Africa. Other more heterogeneous Keywords tribal populations are the nomadic pastoral Patterns of lifestyle; Cultural authenticity; Residential societies of the Sahel region, of the Eastern built environment. and Western Africa, and the ‘tribal’ peoples of Copyright © 2012 Archnet-IJAR, Volume 6 - Issue 1 - March 2012 - (77-89) Archnet-IJAR, International Journal of Architectural Research Space, Color and Quality of Life in a Nubian Environment 78 India and Southeast Asia. These latter groups, discussed some of the most important and which sometimes number in the hundreds of distinctive aspects of Nubian culture in Nubian thousand or millions of peoples, are integrated Ceremonial Life (Kennedy, J. 2005). Moreover, into national and regional political economics, the Nubian unique architecture which closely but still maintain a strong sense of ethnic reflected the lifestyle of its inhabitants was identity and cultural separatedness. Some documented before submersion by travellers sources estimate that there are over 250 million (Lane, E. W. 1830; published in 2000), the tribal or indigenous peoples worldwide living Egyptian State (MCNO 1960; MSA 1963), in more than seventy countries (Burger, J. archeologists (Abu Bakr, A. 1963), architects 1990: 18; Davis, S. 1993: 7-8). In this sense, as a (Fathy, H. 1964 & 1966), international painters ‘definable group’, the Nubians lived isolated (Roberts, D. 1856; Usick, P. 2002; Veillon, M. from the Egyptian society and the common and Rodenberg, J. 2005); Egyptian painters Egyptian way of life; in their lands, they did not such as Hussein Bikar, the brothers Adham and benefit from civil services, such as the medical, Seif Wanli, Tahia Halim and others in the 1960s educational and telecommunication services; and the ‘’renowned Egyptian photographer DIANA KAMEL AND ALEYA ABDEL-HADI they did not witness or live any change and/ Antoine Albert who documented Nubia and or advancement concerning their political and the Nubians in the different stages before, human rights as the majority of Egyptians did. during and after relocation’’ (Attia, R. 2008 also The only Nubians integrated into the Egyptian see CULTNAT). population were those who went to the Egyptian cities for work. As such, the Nubian case raised Contextual Background a great interest to researchers on the psycho- socio-anthropological and architectural levels. Nubia’s geographic location: Nubia was an The building of Egypt’s High Dam in the 1960s empire that extended along the Nile River from erased innumerable historic treasures, but it what is now Aswan in Egypt to present-day also forever obliterated the ancient land of Khartoum in Sudan 2500 years ago. The Nubians the Nubians. In 1963-64, they were removed of Egypt were settling south, along the Nile coast ‘en masse’ from their traditional homelands in (350 km), between Aswan and Wadi-Halfa. southern Egypt and resettled more to the North That area of settlement is now submerged by in the upper Egyptian areas (Fernea, R. and Lake Nasser due to the High-Dam construction Gerster, G. 1973; Dafalla, H. 1975). south of Aswan in 1956. The Egyptian Nubians have been relocated to the Kom-Ombo region Much of the life of old Nubia revolved around in Upper Egypt, north of Aswan in 1964 within ceremonialism, and in their remarkable study an area stretching sixty kilometers north-south which has become a standard text in the fields (MSA, 1965). of anthropology and cultural psychology, Robert A. Fernea and John G. Kennedy – Nubian life before relocation: Nubia has always anthropologists – together with Hussein M. depended for its existence on the Nile, and Fahim, Armgard Grauer, Fadwa al-Guindi, most people have always lived beside the Samiha al-Katsha, and Nawal al-Messiri river. Although the land along the river is very Archnet-IJAR, International Journal of Architectural Research - Volume 6 - Issue 1 - March 2012 Space, Color and Quality of Life in a Nubian Environment 79 fertile, the Nubian flood plain is much narrower drastic decisions concerning their community than in the rest of Egypt, meaning that the and give mutual help in cases of marriage, land has always been less productive and the death or house construction. The Nubians have population has always been smaller. Because this motto: “one man cannot build a house, of its long cultural history, the folk heritage of but ten men can easily build twenty houses”. Nubia is rich, varied and wonderfully original. Nubian women too had a strong cooperative It has distinctive features since it is the result of role with men in painting and decorating their three mingled groups that make up the Nubian house interiors. people: The Kenuz settled to the north close to Aswan, depended primarily on trade rather Nubian Architecture: old Nubian’s residential than agriculture due to their desert nomadic environment had characteristics that were origin. Kenuzi homeowners had to adjust to a closely related to the surrounding ancient different topographical situation as they were Egyptian monuments. The Nubian houses were forced progressively by Nile waters to move up built of stone, clay and sand; the flat roofs were their houses farther away from the flat plateaus commonly built of palm leaves (jareed) and DIANA KAMEL AND ALEYA ABDEL-HADI on the bank to the stony hills near the mountain. grain stalks and the arched domes were of Their homes appeared as row houses to utilise clay bricks. The walls of the house especially the all available space. Executed entirely in mud façade were decorated with ornaments and brick, they used the barrel vault as a distinctive paintings of flags, flowers, birds and animals. architectural feature. The Fedija Nubians, on the Crockery was often used for wall decorations; other hand lived more to the south up to Wadi- a plate usually occupied the centre of the Halfa on the Nile banks where they cultivated façade. The decoration of its exterior doorway, the land and owned separate independent or (bawaba), was a mix of vivid colors and large houses with an almost square layout textures of adobe brick filigree, figurative and built around a large central rectangular open geometric images in mud, white lime-plaster courtyard. Loggias and spacious one storey relief, and wall-mounted objects like ceramic rooms surrounding the court were well designed plates, automobile headlights, mirrors, cow for both winter and summer climates; and horns and dried crocodiles. While the full range lastly, the tribe of Aliqat originally from Najd, of these decorative materials has shrunk in moved to Nubia between the Kenuz and the recent years, the impulse to draw attention to Fedija, in the Wadi el-Arab region. “The houses one’s home, and to its doorway as a symbol in middle Nubia are little known, they seem of the family, remains strong (El-Hakim, O. not to have been greatly different from those 1993:15-40). The old Nubian built-environment in the northern and southern region” (Fernea, was a reflection of cultural authenticity: it R. and Gerster, G. 1973: 51). Although the was successfully responsive to users’ needs three tribes have different languages, yet they (biological-physiological and cultural); its more or less intermingled by marriage. The architectural forms fostered socialization among Nubian community is a cooperative society: members of the community, achieved self-image associations or (gama’iyyas) were and still are and identity, it also realized privacy and thermal an important communal form to meet, take comfort. Archnet-IJAR, International Journal of Architectural Research - Volume 6 - Issue 1 - March 2012 Space, Color and Quality of Life in a Nubian Environment 80 Nubian life after relocation in the 1960s: from values on the actual residential built and lived- the previous studies which deal with the effect in environment.

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