Home as a Person: Family and Compound

     The notion of the home evokes feelings of safety, shelter, life, and family. In many African cultures, such as the Tamberma who reside in northern Togo, the home not only has a family as an occupant but is a family member itself. This can be seen through the anthropomorphism of architecture, and the inherent treatment and integration of the home as its own being into the family structure. Houses are fed, dressed, and partake in funerals as methods of integration into the family. This can also be seen in how a house often will have “eyes of the wall” or have a womb.

    The womb, as seen above, acts as the woman’s bedroom and is kept safe in the middle of the home. The house itself is built by the men, but the woman decorates the space as a way to give it human characteristics. The façade of the house is similar to skin, and it is bathed in oil to keep the surface of the house even. The level of care and devotion poured into the creation and care of the home truly anthropomorphizes the house on an emotional level.