61 The Assimilation of Traditional Practices in Contemporary Architecture Roland Depret Dakar is a recent city, like all of the coastal Dakar, An Islamic City? Dakar at that time is emptied of its popu­ cities of West Africa Fifty-six years ago, it lation and of its public transportation had only 40,000 inhabitants. Something on Dakar has a large Moslem majority, on the system. the order of 80 percent of the present order of a million people - but does that As we will see, this importance of Islam is population has been urbanized only for make it an "Islamic" city? expressed in the built-up environment, but one or two generations, and individual and Islam is a basic fact in Senegal, and it is with some specific aspects that are some­ collective memory is fully aware of the times rather distant from those of other traditional environment; the way of life is intensely felt by the population. Like all Africans in general, the Senegalese are Moslem countries This fact is due as much permeated by it deeply religious To be sure, there are to African particularisms as to the very In all sorts of activities linking it with the remnants of the traditional African perceptible effects of colonization built-up part of the environment, the large religions, "weighted syntheses," depen­ Like all other great cities, Dakar is an majority of Dakar's population assimilates ding on the case, of animism, of totem ism , arena of struggle, a "contest area," har­ this traditional past into its contemporary of manism, of naturism, of fetishism and of boring numerous conflicts and internal environment. This point will be the paganism (according to the analysis of contradictions: battles for civic power, for essence of the problem with which we will Thomas and Luneau), and these surviving religious power, for profit This aspect deal. remnants are also intensely felt, since they has already been analyzed during this This traditional-contemporary dynamic are strongly anchored in the African seminar, particularly by Fatou Sow and process is accentuated by other factors. cosmogony. Yet is there a "Black Islam," Jacques Bugnicourt Hence it will no First of all, let us recall that in Dakar there for all that? Hampate Ba says: "There longer be dwelt on here, but we must have always been Lebou village communi­ could not be a Black Islam, any more than nevertheless not lose sight of it. ties (Hann, Yoff, Ouakam, etc ), in which there could be a Black Christianity or a a very original type of juxtaposition of Black Judaism. What there is, above all, is traditionalism and of modernism has the Islamic principle, the only thing developed. In addition, the relationships worthwhile studying. Naturally, as my Memory of Signs between the capital and inland areas are master, Tyerno Bokar, the sage of numerous and frequent in a Sahel marked Bandiagara, said to me, it can happen­ The interactions of individuals or of groups by easy communications, particularly in a and it will very frequently happen - that with their built-up environment is condi­ society characterized by great social in Islamizing itself, a country adopts one of tioned, among other things, by the remem­ mobility, family encounters are frequent the various colors that the gigantic, tri­ brances, more or less contemporary, that and diversified Finally, we must mention angular, Islamic prism can offer, when they have of their traditional environment, the important role of the secondary cities, breaking up the divine white truth of which the set of signs, symbols and archetypes to which are intermediaries between the Islam spreads the light." which they can attach themselves in order capital and the rural world. In Senegal, Islam is essentially an Islam of to assert themselves more effectively in an urban environment that is much more vast, Dakar has another specific characteristic. brotherhoods, of "tariqas," of which the much less easy to grasp The division between the city and the two most important ones are the Tidjanes, outskirts, which is certainly evident centered around Tivaouane, and the It is the home territory, to which the geographically, is not very distinct On one Mourides, whose center is in Touba. The divinities (of the earth, of the forest, of hand, this peripheral area is not comprised links of the faithful with their brotherhood water. .. ) are closely linked. These divini­ of predominantly recent immigrants quite are very close and constitute a very dense ties were present before the book reli­ on the contrary, it owes its emergence to network of relationships throughout the gions, and co-exist with them in forms that Dakar inhabitants who have either been country, and particularly between Dakar have deteriorated to varying extents. They evicted from their neighborhood, or have and the other parts of Senegal These links are rarely given spatial definition, or this left in search of building sites, which are are religious and links of solidarity, but occurs in very diffuse ways, but they often scarce and expensive in the central area. also entail participation in development mark - by means of a set of rites - the On the other hand, under-urbanization is and a struggle for power Among the configuration of the villages (taboo spaces not limited to the outskirts. The same highlights in the life of the population, we or passages, for example). must note the great annual pilgrimages, situation is found in the development area It is religion, Islam to the greatest extent, especially that of Tivaouane, a city of a few known as Parcelles assainies (Improved marked by close links with the religious thousand inhabitants that welcomes, for Parcels of land) Community, the Imam, the Koranic two days and two nights during the school, more than by the physical presence Maouloud, more th~n a million pilgrims of the Mosque The latter is rarely the The Assimilation o/Traditional Practices in Contempormy Architectllle 62 central point of the village; it is generally a simple structure, vaguely inspired by North Africa and the Middle East (and never by the great African mosques of Mali of Niger). The design is most often that of the "Maraboutic" buildings, with a single dome, the symbol of mediation with the heavens. It is the village community, with its orga­ nization that is always complex, but is understood by all and is accepted. Its visible sign is the penc, the assembly area, marked by a large tree, with one center or several, depending on the structure of the village The spatial organization can be highly variable, depending on the ethnic groups and the regions (see Pelissier, les Paysans du Senegal) The forms are rarely rigid (with the exception of the case of villages laid out by the government), but rather they are flexible, fluid, organic. The func­ tional concept of movement patterns is replaced by that of "open spaces," which are highly differentiated Depending on the regions, the ethnic groups, and the form of village government, the spatial Supple fOl ms of the lIaditionall'illages, differentiated spaces Sut also, replacement of the traditional organization may be centralized (in huts bv iil'ing SUI I oundings of the urban type (Yenne village) general around the pene, more than Photo R Deplet around the Mosque) or be poly-centered. In contrast with the rather dense grouping of the Wolof villages, for example, one finds the nebulous natUl e of the Diolas The Signs of Power villages. These are the essential elements of the Readings of the urban environment built-up environment, as well, of course, as require long processes of decoding, and the scale, which will remain in peoples' there are few people who can do it The memory, and which they will try to find signs and symbols are numerous and inter­ again or to reconstitute in urban areas twined, due, among other things: stemming from planned sources. • to the existence of numerous, differing But memory also retains such things as the environments; expectation of rain, monetary indigence, • to a complex culture, many aspects of lack of public facilities and insufficient which are still marked by domination, government, the restrictive nature of the • to a rapid pace of living and dynamics of power structure. "Every young rural man change dreams of the capital, and the converse is One of the most important "chapters" in certainly not true" (Montei!) "reading" the city is power, whether it dates from before, or after, Independance. A mosque in Sm gny, with its qualities of (re5hness and spontaneity It constructs its symbols: monuments, large public buildings, squares, major Photo R Deplet arteries. It does not accommodate spon- 63 The Assimilation of Tladitional Practices in Contemporary Architecture taneity well, nor the organic aspects, pre­ ferring order, alignment, straight lines and right angles, which have been a sign or Ul ban culture since the city of Catal Hiiyiik Power is a mark left by nume- rous urban civilizations, upon "successful" cities whether they be Roman, Greek, Moslem (the city of Samara, extensions of Ispahan), Chinese (map of Peking), Aztec, etc, not to mention present-day cities It is probably the sign of a strong and centra­ lizing power, but it is also the manifesta­ tion of far-sighted urban objectives (L. P Senghor: "I want wide, straight streets that intersect at right angles") One must make a distinction here between the large urban arteries and the connecting roads. As for wide arteries, they gain being simple, clear, and "adjustable" from generation to generation; in this respect, straight lines and right angles are among the best forms of organization. It is not the same thing for the neighborhood connecting roads, where RUE one could have - either with the help of SOS vii/age of Dakm, BEHC Alchitects creative imagination, or by giving the Fluidity of the inside spaces population a certain freedom in its settle­ ment patterns - more organic, more Photo R Deplet human routes for communication.