In this episode, April Yankey takes a closer look at the Ashanti Traditional Buildings, earthen structures rooted in Sahelian construction methods, and draws a comparison between the original indigenous building techniques and the modern maintenance practices they now undergo.
Once crafted with natural, locally sourced materials through communal effort and cultural ritual, these structures are increasingly being preserved with concrete and other foreign materials, prioritizing appearance over authenticity.
April explores how this shift toward aesthetic preservation rather than holistic conservation risks erasing the architectural identity embedded in Sahelian tradition.
If this trend continues, our heritage may one day survive only as a visual relic, history flattened into decorative form.
Research for this episode is based on documentation by architecture students E.K. Akotoyeh-Kubenu, A. Brown, G.N.K. Dometey, A.T.Y. Gadzanku, and H.C. Warmann, conducted under the direction of W.F. Hill at the University of Science and Technology, Kumasi.
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Intro Music: Onset Music Group- Sonwabile
Outro Music: Tswa Omanye Aba by the Legendary Naa Amanua of Wulomei Fame and the EKN Big Boyz
Show Art photographed by April Yankey, Fort Vernon, Prampram