Thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree: Master of Architecture (Professional) to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, School of Architecture and Planning at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2016 / The heritage and history of a city is often based on urban legend. These
stories pertain the cultural rooting of the society that had lived within the
cities from their founding and until today. Johannesburg or Egoli appears to
have skipped this cultural rooting and instead stems from the political and
commercial soil of the gold mines.
If we excavate into the gold mining history of the city – and even into the
history preceding it - we can find the hidden sacred and cultural beginnings
embedded in our society today. Our society has been formed on the continual
evolution of the ideas of the sacred and profane through practices of
incorporation, salvation and adaptation.
As the gold mines in the city shut down, in 1940, the migrant labourers were left
in hostels in an unfamiliar terrain and little means to make a living (Potenze,
2015). This means that today, we can still find evidence of the importance
of sacred rituals similar to those in the mining compounds. Religions and
cultures in Johannesburg, that have been gradually changed overtime, are
a result of the incorporation of mining labour, urban customs and western
ideas (including religion and technologies). Although the city has clearly
harmed the rural traditions, we can still see glimpses of the endurance of the
sacred within the profane landscape. The profane is adapted by the different
communities in the inner city – as will be discussed with reference to the
Mai Mai and Shembe (Nazareth Baptist Church) communities – to express
their cultures of the sacred, traditional and religious and to accommodate
for ritual practices associated with them.
Today’s societies of the inner city are a mix of cultures, religions, God, the
ancestors and ritual practices - both sacred and profane. By learning from
the way in which these communities continually evolved to incorporate their
environments into their traditions, the city too must now incorporate these
communities and their beliefs into its structure. If this is achieved, it could
ignite a healing process through integration as opposed to replacement or
removal of elements of the city or of its society.
This report explores ideas of the importance of religion and culture in
Johannesburg’s context. As it is an architectural analysis, the response will
be a proposal for religious infrastructure and space within the area of City
and Suburban, alongside the Kwa Mai Mai market and the gathering spaces
of the Shembe / Nazareth Baptist Church. This will promote and retain the
cultures, traditions and religions that were brought to the city and used as a
tool of survival. / MT2017
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:wits/oai:wiredspace.wits.ac.za:10539/22972 |
| Date | January 2016 |
| Creators | Aserman, Samantha Lee |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | Online resource (313 leaves), application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf |
Page generated in 0.0025 seconds