African homes as part of the family and a dwelling place

     A home takes a transformative role within different African cultures. It becomes more than a house, or even a dwelling place, but rather an active member of the family. This is well exemplified within the Tamberma culture. An African home isn't simply labelled as a member of the family but is a physical and psychological extension of the humans in the house. A Tamberma home architectural structure is so closely tied with the human's identity that it affects the person's individual balance and completeness. 

A depiction of mounds alignment with a home

    A Tamberma's home is tied to ones soul and this tie is reflected literally in the shape, structure, design, and other physical aspects of the home. While many Tamberma homes do follow an anthropomorphist design with the homes being built to represent a human (the earthen core representing flesh, pebbles representing bones, clay plaster representing skin and many more), the architectural details signify a lot more than just representing human parts. The architectural details in these homes are so significant and created with such precision that even the smallest misalignment in the details could affect the human's physical and mental state. In each Tamberma's home, a physical depiction of each individual's liyouani (or soul) in mounds with different unique placement surrounding each home. The placement of these earthly mounds are very important as they must be in direct alignment with the homes. If they are not aligned properly, its is seen as the body not aligning with the soul and the human will not achieve balance and tranquility. 

    The details and significance to the designs of the Tamberma's homes as well as many homes across different African cultures shows great effort to be more tuned in with various aspects of ones identity. This also creates a deeper attunement with ones spirituality which then impacts other parts of one's daily life.