ABSTRACT
Most, if not all, of my years of fieldwork in Africa had been spent in the company of men. Men were the guardians, the custodians of both the social structure and
the acceptable livelihoods; they were the knowledgeable bearers of the history, the oral traditions, the literature. It was they who granted permission to ask questions, to photograph, to record information. The building traditions I was recording seemed to be primarily in their hands.
