Chokwe Traditional Architecture in Encyclopedia of Vernacular Architecture of the World, Cambridge University Press
Author: Chokwe (Angola, NE)
Publication Date: January 15, 1998
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Publication Date: January 15, 1998
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The Chokwe (or the Quiocos), one of Angola’s most developed cultures in pre-colonial times, are best known for their sculpture and plastic arts tradition. This tradition is also reflected in their vernacular architecture and architectural decoration. The largest structures built by the Chokwe are the village centre meeting places, reception halls, or jango. In some regions of the northeast only chiefs use a round house. Most of the Chokwe have broken with the traditional river economy and have adopted the standard rectangular shelter form of two or more divisions. Adobe and clay-mud wall rendering are well-known materials today for the Chokwe, despite the old Lunda-Chokwe’s superstition that ‘man only after death should be found between the earth’.