The Masons of Djenn}} [Paperback]

The town of Djenn? on the Bani River in Mali has been a thriving settlement for more than two millennia. Renowned for its mud-brick architecture, monumental mosque, and merchant-traders' houses, Djenn? remains one of Africa's most distinctive cities. The Masons of Djenn? follows Trevor Marchand after he signs on as a builder's apprentice. Marchand takes readers on his journey from raw laborer to skilled craftsman. He explores the professional associations of masons, their social networks, training regimes, and changing fortunes. With his fellow builders, he produces mud bricks and plasters, constructs walls and ceilings, and sculpts rooftop crenellations using specialized tools. Marchand describes the raising of a mud-brick house and explores the technical, social, and magical processes involved in making buildings and renewing the unique urban environment of Djenn?.

Here is a book that puts the work back into fieldwork with the dirt left under the fingernails. to learn about construction processes, Trevor Marchand apprenticed himself to the masons in Djenn? exchanging his labor for learning. . . . Over and above the book's considerable substantive and theoretical strengths, the unusually accessible exposition of this intercultural dynamic will make it well worth teaching.Vol.53.1 April 2010Winner, 2010 Elliott P. Skinner Book Award Winner, 2010 Herskovits AwardWinner, 2009 Amaury Talbot Prize

Contents<\>
Acknowledgments
A Note on Language

Introduction: The Field and the Work

Part 1. Elementary Lessons in the Art of Building
1. Back to Work
2. Staking a Claim
3. Magic and Mortar
4. Conflict and Resolution
Part 2. Portraits of Life and Work in Djenn?
5. Master and Apprentice
6. The Michelangelo of Djenn?
7. Vulnerable Craftsmen
8. Cat Heads and Mud Miters
9. Yappi's Confession
10. Finishing Off

Epilogue: Continuity and Change

Glossary
Notes
Bibliography
Index

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