The Mesakin Quisar
Cluster Dwelling
Ryan Smith
260379435
Professor Pieter Sijpkes
Archaeology 528: History of Housing
Tuesday April 30, 2013
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Introduction:
The Mesakin Quisar are an ethnic subgroup of the Nuba people of Suda, who are an ethnically
marginalised people as the traditional existence and cultural practices contrast sharply with the rigid
ideals of strict Islam followed and preached by the country’s elite ruling class. However, while dealing
with constant pressure to conform to Muslim ideals, and facing constant threat from raids and Islamic
marauders, the Mesakin like many Nuba peoples have managed to exist in a culturally divided world by
maintaining the traditional aspects of their culture while adopting various aspects of Islam such as
clothing practices, the shift from nude or semi-nude to fully clothed (The Nuba in Sudan, 18-19). One of
the traditional aspects of culture maintained by the Mesakin Quisar is their cluster dwelling type (Fig. 1),
which was one of the most recognizable and quaint designs visited in Archaeology 528. However, more
importantly, the unique cluster displays exceptional utility for its designed purpose: to facilitate the
demands of an agriculturally dependent people farming in an economically impoverished and
climatically harsh region; while providing privacy between family members through screens and from
neighbours and protection through exterior walls from the harsh elements, carnivorous wildlife,
poisonous insects and crop destroying pests for people, livestock, and grain alike (Tolbert, 26-27; Sijpkes
5 Feb, 2013).
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Fig. 1. The exterior of the Mesakin Quisar Cluster Dwelling.
The People:
The various types of cluster villages in Sub-Saharan Africa represent different cultures of people,
sharing similar characteristics, while maintaining different styles of housing from the individual cluster
dwellings of the Mesakin Quisar, scattered randomly across the landscape such as modern day
agricultural communities, to the highly compact Dogon cluster villages that resemble much more early
examples of organic cities (Schoenauer 65-66). The members of such societies are subsistence level
agriculturalists known as hoe peasants (Schoenauer 57). As the name suggests, these are poor people
whose survival counts on the productivity of their land; the term ‘hoe’ represents the fact that these
people are not technologically advanced, they used, and still do to this day, a rudimentary plow and are
lacking significant levels of technology such as mechanization and implements such as advanced soils
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and soil nutrition additives that could produce a significant agricultural surplus. The existence and
longevity of such semipermanent societies depends on the productivity of the soils. With such intense
agricultural practices, no use of fertilizers and rain limited to the wet season (May-June until
September), the fields are subject to intense erosion and may become infertile and inefficient to
cultivate within three to fifteen years of use; this ultimately provides a lifetime to the cluster dwelling as
well, since the dwellers of these structures must relocate for new agricultural areas every few years.
Due to such restrictions of land use, the cultivator must have plentiful knowledge of plant life and must
have foresight and an established routine in order to produce and ensure a continuous supply of
produce and ensure survival for the household (Schoenauer 57).
The Mesakin are a subgroup of the Nuba people, which is a very broad term encompassing
many diverse and ethnically distinct people who inhabit South Kordofan, an area just north of the
internal North-South frontier measuring about 77,700 kilometers squared in Central Sudan (Fig. 2). The
term encompasses roughly fifty different ethnic groups, whose sole unifying characteristic is
discrimination and oppression from the ruling Sudanese elite; however, this persecution has been a very
powerful agent in unifying the various Nuba tribes into a unified identity (The Nuba in Sudan, 11). The
term ‘Nuba’ is in fact not indigenous to any of the Nuba cultures, rather it was used by Egyptians and
Northern Sudanese along the Nile to refer to blacks further south. In reality, all names given to the
Nuba cultures are the products of racist principles from Arabic outsiders, for example: Mesakin
Translates to ‘poor’, ‘harmless’, or ‘miserable’, and it groups together two unrelated tribes, the Mesakin
Tuwal (Tall Mesakin) and Mesakin Qisar (Short Mesakin) (The Nuba in Sudan, 11-12). The Nuba have
been included into the Sudanese state socially, economically, and politically, albeit against their will,
which has been a major driver of the current tensions occurring in central Sudan (The Nuba in Sudan,
10).
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Fig. 2: The location of South Kordofan, home to the Mesakin Quisar.
Today, the Mesakin population numbers about 81,000 people. Still to this day, ethnic religions
represent 84.30% of the population, followed by Islam 15%, and Christianity 0.70% (Joshua Project).
Interestingly, this religious divide within Mesakin society is not a source of major tension, as many
groups display unique blends of religion, combining aspects of traditional religion with Islam; however, it
does lead to increasing tension with the ruling Sudanese elite who follow strict Islam. The ruling class
has resorted to policies of assimilation, known as ‘Sudanization’, aimed at shedding the Nuba of their
traditional ways of life, native languages, native dress, native foods (pork especially), traditional dancing
and song, and religion, in favour of a life dictated by Islamic Law (The Nuba in Sudan, 18). The concept
of ‘Sudanization’ was a classic case of wishful thinking as imposing change on dominated peoples
consistently enhances tension and frequently leads to increased violence, "What is common to virtually
all Nuba groups, is a history of enmity and strife with precisely those populations to whom 'integration'
is now expected to tie them. The reality was that national integration could only be achieved on highly
unequal terms—another subjugation, this time losing local integrity in the process. The realities of
exploitation, expropriation and discrimination became so harsh that many Nuba ultimately resorted to
arms” (Fig.3) (The Nuba in Sudan, 20).
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Fig. 3: Resistance soldiers of Sudan People's Liberation Army-North (SPLA-North) in the Nuba Mountains,
South Kordofan.
Mesakin society within the Nuba culture consists of a polygamist structure, in which each man
may have several wives each with several children. This type of family requires specific housing types to
deal with the pressures associated with such a lifestyle. If a man has many wives, he must provide
individual housing clusters for each wife and associated children, in addition to providing each family
with additional fields and livestock (Schoenauer 62). Each cluster dwelling represents a matriarchal
family unit, with each member of the family given a specific role from tending fields to tending crops,
treating grain to preparing food.
One of the main cultural similarities uniting all Nuba peoples is the importance in which
agriculture plays. All Nuba peoples have been practicing basic subsistence agriculture since at least 600
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A.D.. As a result of such long tenured and common agricultural practices, similar rain dances and
ceremonies can be viewed across many of the Nuba cultural groups as the resource plays the most
crucial of roles in such a dry area (The Nuba in Sudan, 14). Agriculture is the chief activity practiced by
the Mesakin Quisar who focus attention on their staple crop durra, a type of millet closely resembling
maize (Schoenauer, 60).
The Structure of the Dwelling:
Initially, both husband and new wife will live with their respective families until the wife
becomes pregnant. At this point, the husband begins creating a new cluster dwelling complex near his
agricultural fields, which will take him roughly two years to build the structure as he is incapable of
building throughout the five-month rainy season (May or June to September) or during the dry season,
which coincides with the harvest (November-January) (Schoenauer 62; The Nuba in Sudan, 14).
The structure itself is made of adobe, a natural building material made from sand, clay, water,
and a type of fibrous material (sticks or straw, etc.), which fully explains why it is impossible to build
during the rainy season as unfinished adobe would disintegrate and wash away. The external design of
the structure is plain, consisting of adobe walls connecting five or six windowless, circular, adobe
structures roughly 11-13 feet in diameter and constructed on stone foundations. The walls and
structures are situated in circular fashion around a central courtyard, which provides access into each
individual building (Schoenauer 60). The walls of both the structures and the external encircling wall are
built to be about 30 centimetres thick at the base while getting progressively thinner and curving
inwards with increasing height. This specific style of building is essential with adobe and promotes
structural strength and prevents collapsing, as it is a natural material that lacks the strength of modern
building resources such as concrete, stone, or brick (Schoenauer 60; Sijpkes 5 Feb, 2013). The walls of
the structure range from about seven to ten feet in height, and are plastered smooth with adobe. Each
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of the circular structures is topped with a conical straw roof, which gives the whole structure the
appearance of five or six turrets. The central courtyard is also covered with a primitive ‘roof’ of loosely
woven grass and boughs, which provides some shade in a dry, and very hot climate (Fig.4) (Schoenauer
60).
Fig. 4: Notice the height of the walls and the thatched roof located above all five (in this example) huts
and the central court. In this scenario, the inhabitants of the individual cluster dwellings are most likely
members of a polygamous family.
The entrance to the structure varies in location due to the number of structures the dwelling
contains; however, it has a very recognizable keyhole shape regardless of its location (Fig. 5). This
keyhole shape is rather inventive as it easily admits anyone carrying a burden over their head, as many
Sub-Saharan women do for transportation of water or grain. For example, if the dwelling consists of five
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structures, then the entrance is located on one of the connecting walls and leads directly into the
courtyard (Fig. 6); however, in a six-structured dwelling, the entrance leads into one of the huts, usually
the guest quarters, which then connects to the courtyard through the back of the guest hut (Schoenauer
60).
Fig. 5: Mesakin Quisar Keyhole entrance. Fig. 6: The location of the entrance on a five hut dwelling.
A unique feature of African cluster dwellings, which is certainly lost in modern North American
households, is the specific and rigid uses associated with every individual hut of the dwelling (Fig. 7). For
example, in a five hut dwelling there may be: one living hut for the man and wife, one used as a granary,
perhaps two used for storage, and one hut reserved for animals such as pigs, chickens or goats that also
contains a loft used as sleeping quarters for the children (Schoenauer 61). This style of interior design is
less frequent in North American culture, as many rooms have multiple uses, for example, a living room
may also function as a TV room, studio, dining room, bedroom, and office, etc. (also signaled a
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departure from traditional European households, which have strict functions for specific rooms like the
parlour). On the interior, huts have pegs built directly into the walls and are used for hanging tools and
calabashes. Each hut within the structure is lit through its main opening, accessed only by the
courtyard. Individual structures used for sleeping and storage have a small oval opening, about 30-35
centimeters in diameter, accessed from the courtyard and are located roughly five feet up the wall
ensuring that residents must ‘climb through’ the entrance (Fig. 8). Screens are frequently set up across
the entrances to increase privacy, which is viewed as respect for family members and in-laws (Tolbert,
26). This style of entrance has two main functions: first, it is essential to keep out poisonous creatures
such as scorpions, snakes, etc. as the high threshold discourages their entrance; second, it acts as a
primitive ‘climate control’ in which it keeps the hut cool during the sweltering days, while conversely,
helping to produce a warm environment at night. The use of such entrances for the granaries also
ensures that in a time of storage, the wall can be completely sealed off quickly and efficiently,
eliminating access to pests who may damage or consume the harvest (Schoenauer 61; Sijpkes 5 Feb,
2013).
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Fig. 7: Room uses for each hut within the cluster dwelling. Fig. 8: Climbing through the hut’s entrance.
All huts open out exclusively onto the courtyard, which is slanted at an angle promoting the
drainage of water for the principal space of the Mesakin dwelling. The exterior space also acts as the
one and only ‘hallway’ for the structure, connecting all huts with one another. The central court is the
social heart of the household in which cooking, cleaning, eating, personal interaction, and showering all
occur. A hearth, “consisting of three rounded stones to support cooking vessels”, is located at the
center of the court in which the majority of the cooking takes place (Schoenauer 61). Furniture for
sitting is placed around the hearth and consists of chairs made of branches and stones. The spacing of
the furniture around the hearth really accentuates the importance that food has in their lives, producing
enough food to survive is the single most important task to the Mesakin, it occupies the majority of the
typical day. The courtyard also acts as an area for storage as many pegs are built into the exterior of the
huts as well, which provides hanging space for cooking vessels, weapons, tools, etc. but has another,
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much more ingenious function as well: providing built-in scaffolding for repairs (Schoenauer, 61). Such
ingenuity is found in most societies that use adobe as their primary building material as it readily
available, simple and essentially free to make, yet it lacks structural integrity and is subject to frequent
repairs. The central courtyard is walled to ensure privacy from the outside world but also protection for
important livestock from carnivorous predators (Tolbert, 26-27). The Mesakin Quisar cluster dwelling is
a housing style most likely adopted from the inward-looking oriental house and the Traditional urban
Islamic houses, in which the central courtyard played a vital role as the social heart of the dwelling and
privacy was one of the most essential aspects of a house (Schoenauer 115, 151-152).
One of the most unmistakable amenities of the Mesakin courtyard is the shower facilities
located on one of the connecting walls, but generally away from the sleeping quarters of the mother
and father. The shower is unique in the sense that it is the only ornamented area of the whole house
(Fig. 9). The shower contraption is constructed from a calabash cradled on a pair of antelope horns,
once tilted the water escapes through a hole in the vessel and the water stream is created. The area is
also richly painted with many colours and adorned with different designs creating a water resistant
layer, which is essential for protecting the easily disintegrated adobe walls of the shower area
(Schoenauer 62; Sijpkes 5 Feb, 2013).
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Fig. 9: Mesakin shower is richly ornamented with paint and design to protect the Adobe walls from
water damage.
The interior walls of structure, to the naked eye, may seem to be ornamented as well, as they
display a blue sheen. This however, is simply graphite rich earth, which has been rubbed onto the walls
to produce the blue glaze. This practice has a secondary and highly important function as well: it acts as
a strengthening agent. Combined with the curved design of the walls, and the practice of building walls
progressively thinner with height, the blue glaze is the final step in creating a relatively sturdy structure
that far exceeds the structural integrity of standard adobe (Schoenauer 62; Sijpkes 5 Feb, 2013).
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Conclusion:
In retrospective analysis, the Mesakin Quisar Cluster Dwelling displays an excellent design to
facilitate the daily chores of the specific group of Nuba people: it is located in very close proximity to the
cultivated fields; it provides ample room to house the various family members who all participate in the
labour activities of the agricultural life; it provides ample and safe area for the storage of agricultural
surplus, which can be sealed off from unwanted pests; a granary for processing and drying the grain; a
central court that acts as the social heart of the dwelling, and the shower area while also passing as the
‘kitchen’, ‘living room’ and ‘dining room’ of the cluster dwelling; lastly, it provides a safe area behind the
protective walls for livestock that are used for subsistence practices and as a currency in villages to
acquire necessary goods (Schoenauer 60-62; Sijpkes 5 Feb, 2013). This housing type can be seen as a
primitive style of the inward-looking oriental house from ancient Mohenjo-Daro and the traditional
urban Islamic house, as it retains many similar characteristics: a central court that is the heart of the
dwelling, and rigid uses for each room, yet lacks the building technology found in both examples (even
though Mohenjo-Daro was occupied between 3250 – 2750 BC) (Schoenauer 115, 151-152). It is
encouraging to see that they have managed to retain a significant amount of their traditional culture
and traditions including the traditional cluster dwelling throughout the hardship and oppression that the
Mesakin Quisar and Nuba people have endured since the introduction of Islam to Sudan around 1600
AD. However, the future of this distinct ethnic group lies in considerable uncertainty as different
ideological forces continue to disintegrate the political, economic, and social integrity of Sudan from
within. The unfortunate location of the Mesakin Quisar people in South Kordofan just north of the
Northern-Southern Frontier (the border between The Republic of South Sudan and Sudan) virtually
ensures that significant violence and political uncertainty await these traditional people.
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Works Cited:
Ngile, Masakin of Sudan. Joshua Project, US Center for World Mission. Accessed April 22, 2013.
http://www.joshuaproject.net/people-profile.php?rog3=SU&peo3=13356
Schoenauer, Norbert. 6,000 Years of Housing. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2000. Print.
Sijpkes, Pieter. ARCH 528 Slides, Session 3 Agrarian Societies: Semi Permanent, and Permanent
Dwellings. Montreal, QC: McGill University, February 5, 2013. Lecture Notes.
The Nuba in Sudan: A People Pushed to the Margins. Justice Africa: 10-53. Accessed April 22, 2013.
http://www.justiceafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/fg_01_history_of_nuba.pdf
Tobert, Natalie. “Domestic Architecture and the Occupant’s Life Cycle: The Case of a Sudanese
Province.” Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review 1 (1989): 19-37.
http://iaste.berkeley.edu/pdfs/01.1d-Fall89tobert-sml.pdf
Images:
Figure 1:
Round Huts and the Cluster Arrangement – the Mesakin Quisar House. TESSELLAR > Blog. Accessed April
25, 2013. http://www.tslr.net/2007/12/round-huts-and-cluster-arrangement.html
Figure 2:
South Kordofan. Google Earth. Google, Accessed April 25, 2013.
https://maps.google.ca/maps?safe=off&hl=en&q=South+Kordofan&bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&bvm=bv.4
5645796,d.b2I&biw=1787&bih=861&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl
Figure 3:
Sudan's Nuba People Flee Attacks. Global Post, July 20th, 2011. Accessed April 25, 2013.
http://www.globalpost.com/photo-galleries/planet-pic/5670975/sudans-nuba-people-fleeattacks
Figure 4:
Sijpkes, Pieter. ARCH 528 Slides, Session 3 Agrarian Societies: Semi Permanent, and Permanent
Dwellings. Montreal, QC: McGill University, February 5, 2013. Lecture Notes.
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Figure 5:
Sijpkes, Pieter. ARCH 528 Slides, Session 3 Agrarian Societies: Semi Permanent, and Permanent
Dwellings. Montreal, QC: McGill University, February 5, 2013. Lecture Notes.
Figure 6:
Sijpkes, Pieter. ARCH 528 Slides, Session 3 Agrarian Societies: Semi Permanent, and Permanent
Dwellings. Montreal, QC: McGill University, February 5, 2013. Lecture Notes.
Figure 7:
Schoenauer, Norbert. 6,000 Years of Housing. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2000. Print: p.
60.
Figure 8:
Sijpkes, Pieter. ARCH 528 Slides, Session 3 Agrarian Societies: Semi Permanent, and Permanent
Dwellings. Montreal, QC: McGill University, February 5, 2013. Lecture Notes.
Figure 9:
Sijpkes, Pieter. ARCH 528 Slides, Session 3 Agrarian Societies: Semi Permanent, and Permanent
Dwellings. Montreal, QC: McGill University, February 5, 2013. Lecture Notes.