The exploration of Afrocentric decolonization in the built environment: a proposed mixed-use development in Skukuza Kruger National Park.

Abstract

Inspired by living and working in a compound set up, the researcher advocates for a change in the built environment with regards to the lack of exploration of Afrocentric solutions and their decolonization in the built environment. The researcher’s inspiration is mainly drawn from the research problem which explores the lack of decolonization of the colonialist or oppressive spaces in the built environment in Post-Apartheid South Africa, focusing on the labour compound setting. The purpose of this study is to investigate and explore the role that architecture can play in facilitating African people through socially responsive Afrocentrically decolonized built environments. A lack of understanding of the underlying social principles that define decolonization and Afrocentrism drives this study toward seeking to find the threads that connect Africans to the built environment that was previously colonised by integrating and exploring Afrocentric decolonization threads into an Architecture which the African people can identify with. The study focused on the Skukuza, Kruger National Park Labour compound. The research philosophical worldview utilized for the discourse of this dissertation is one of a Constructivist approach. Constructivist approaches are based on understanding, multi participant meanings, social and historical construction and the generation of theory. This research approach positions the researcher within the context of the study by collecting participants, generate meanings focusing on a single concept or phenomenon. It brings personal values into the study by studying the context or setting of participants, validating the accuracy of findings, interpreting the data to create an agenda for change or reform. Constructivism involves the researcher in collaborating with participants (Creswell; 2014: 35-38). The research approach utilized for the discourse of this study is one of a Qualitative research approach for exploring and understanding the meaning individuals or groups ascribe to a social or human problem. The process of research involves emerging questions and procedures, data typically collected in the participant’s setting, data analysis inductively building from particulars to general themes, and the researcher making interpretations of the meaning of the data. The final written report has a flexible structure. Those who engage in this form of inquiry support a way of looking at research that honors an inductive style, a focus on individual meaning, and the importance of rendering the complexity of a situation (Creswell; 2014: 32) This study will briefly present a background of the history of Africa in Pre-colonialism by seeking understanding of ancient African civilizations, pre-colonial settlements and the colonization of Africa. It will briefly analyse the origins of decolonization within a global context with a focused investigation on regions that have defining issues as the South African or African context i.e. countries with postcolonial cities that have issues similar to Skukuza Kruger National Park. The study, informed by the background analysis, will focus on the social and physical aspects that define Afrocentric decolonization through the individual versus the collective. The research, informed by the background analysis, will focus on the social and physical aspects that shape the built environment in the aforementioned regions. The study will then briefly put forward a constructive argument that highlights the current disconnection between the built environment and the process of decolonization. The research will then move into the main discussion where it attempts to put forward a strategy that outlines how the underlining social and physical principles behind Afrocentric decolonization efforts can be used to be integrated and explored into a new built environment that can be considered meaningful by people in the spatially segregated context.