Between local architecture and modernity: An ethnography of the Bulsa house in Northern Ghana

Abstract

This paper focuses on the concept of well-being as expressed in the context of local architecture and the changes that have taken place in this area among the Bulsa in northern Ghana. Anthropologists and sociologists have argued that the essence of local architecture is not so much about the materials or aesthetics of the physical structures but, most importantly about the cultural values, religious, economic practices, and the social relationships among inhabitants of the house. Using ethnographic data gathered over a period of (3) three years, the paper argues that local architecture among the Bulsa is more about how practices of well-being determine the core reasons for the erection of a house than it is about the material or designs used in constructing the house. The paper contributes to our understanding of how changes in local architecture impact sociocultural meanings of well-being and determine the ordering of the physical organisation of the space of a house. The paper concludes that, today, in the Bulsa area, both local architecture and modern-style buildings define and express everyday dynamics of well-being among inhabitants, ancestors, and their animals in the house.