Architecture, Islam, and Identity in West Africa ─ Lessons from Larabanga

Architecture, Islam, and Identity in West Africa shows you the relationship between architecture and Islamic identity in West Africa. The book looks broadly across Muslim West Africa and takes an in-depth study of the village of Larabanga, a small Muslim community in Northern Ghana, to help you see how the built environment encodes cultural history through form, material, and space, creating an architectural narrative that outlines the contours of this distinctive Muslim identity. Apotsos explores how modern technology, heritage, and tourism have increasingly affected the contemporary architectural character of this community, revealing the village’s current state of social, cultural, and spiritual flux. More than 60 black and white images illustrate how architectural components within this setting express the distinctive narratives, value systems, and realities that make up the unique composition of this Afro-Islamic community.

Michelle Apotsos is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Art at Williams College, Massachusetts where she specializes in African architecture and the arts of the Afro-Islamic world. Her research focuses on the intersections between Afro-Islamic identity, architecture, and modernization as they are occurring in contemporary Africa. She received her PhD from Stanford University in 2013.