SPACE AND CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT IN HAUSA TRADITIONAL HOUSING

Hausa traditional housing is informed and shaped by the culture of the people and their religious belief. The savannah region in northern Nigeria is the home of the Hausa people. The Hausas form the majority of the people inhabiting the middle belt and northern states of Nigeria. Across the Nigerian borders the Hausas are natives of the northern parts of many West African countries. This paper examines the spatial planning of the Hausa traditional housing with data obtained from randomly selected homesteads in Kano, Kaduna, and Niger states. The paper examines the relationship between the spatial planning of the compounds and the cultural development of women with regard to the circulation restrictions in the compounds. The Hausa traditional compound has sleeping and living quarters for household members, spaces for rearing of domestic animals, and spaces for the practice of the occupation of the family head. Courtyards are enclosed within the compound, which also serve as a playground for children. Islam places a lot of premium on the privacy of women and prescribes in practical terms varying degrees of seclusion for them. Seclusion of women places severe restrictions on the movement of women, limiting them to a part of the compound designated for them. It also checks the movement of male visitors, and grown-up children in the compound from reaching the inner women restricted area. The typical Hausa home is thus virtually two houses in one; the outer male visitors’ reception area and the restricted area for the women. The paper notes that the Hausa traditional housing is an excellent reference of traditional architecture in Nigeria. It further asserts that Hausa traditional housing places restrictions on circulation of occupants especially women which could hamper their development socially and economically, and thus be an obstacle to the optimum realization of their inherent capabilities