Dwelling in Context: Unfolding Meaning-Making Dynamics and Socio-Ecological Tensions in Homing Practices

This research piece looks at the production of the built environment and the decision- making dynamics through which building processes are implemented and perpetuated. It specifically highlights the role of construction materials in Maasai self-built housing through the lens of Material Ecologies (Ingold, 2010), in an attempt to unpack its socio-cultural and environmental meanings (Rapoport, 2002). Considering the climate threats posed by the building industry, how can the understanding of communities’ housing types and its materiality become a valuable tool in the promotion and integration of ecological and contextual building practices? Understanding home as a fluid relationship and experiential meaning (Dovey, 1985), this research explores evolving notions of homing among settled Maasai communities, focusing on how they establish and transform their relationships with their living spaces through material sensing. By examining how Maasai homes are conceived and inhabited, the chapter seeks to reveal the symbolic meanings embedded in these processes. Furthermore, the research looks at the tensions between vernacularity and the modern building industry, to highlight the socio-ecological processes involved in the evolution of vernacular dwelling types (Vellinga, 2007). By exploring the fluid meaning of Maasai dwellings, the analysis highlights underlying processes that inform the use, rise and/or neglect of certain building techniques and materials throughout time and space, resulting in both socio-environmental tensions and opportunities. The discussion raises entangled pressures of modernity, power, status and representation among others, but also material changes informed by abrupt cultural change and environmental degradation. The research eventually seeks to unpack environmental behaviour theories to find ecological and culturally responsive building solutions in the context of self-built housing communities in rural Tanzania.