Abstract
IN this study of the erection of a Kabyle house the author is primarily concerned with the sociological aspect, and the technological and religious aspects—for certain stages of erection involve a religious ritual with sacrifice—are dealt with only summarily and incidentally in so far as some account of them is necessary to comprehension of its building as a social activity. The character of the Kabyle house is determined to a large extent by the environment and by the economic activities of the people. The intensive character of the occupations of the people, as is usual in the circumstances, tends tO the concentration of a completely self-supporting unit under each roof. Each house is inhabited by a single family. It is, however, essentially the place of womens occupations; the men use it only for eating and sleeping, while unmarried sons of adult age sleep in a kind of club-house. But as a small group of this kind is not adequate to the labour of erecting a new house, the help of relatives and then of the whole community is called in. New houses are usually erected on the marriage of a son, and there is a tendency for each new house to be grouped around that of the parents, thus creating a community within a larger unit. M. Mauniers book is a valuable piece of work which well illustrates the function of and method of working of a communal activity.
La construction collective de la maison en Kabylie: étude sur la coopération économique chez 1es Berbères du Djurjura.
Prof.
René
Maunier
Par.(Université de Paris. Travaux et Mémoires de l'Institut d'Ethnologie, Tome 3.) Pp. iii + 81 + 3 planches. Paris: Institut d'Ethnologie, 1927.) 45 Francs.
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La construction collective de la maison en Kabylie: étude sur la coopération économique chez 1es Berbères du Djurjura . Nature 120, 616 (1927). https://doi.org/10.1038/120616a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/120616a0