Adahl, Karin, ed. and Sahlstrom, Berit, ed. Islamic Art and Culture in Sub-Saharan Africa. Stockholm: Norstedts Tryckeri AB, 1995.

A result of an international conference in Sweden, this book gathers articles by 10 scholars on African architecture. Of special interest to my report are the articles by Labelle Prussin, who discusses the “architectural facets of Islam in the northern part of West Africa” and John Picton, who discusses “visual and material practices” of people in Nigeria, though he focuses more on art than architecture.

Frishman, Martin, ed. and Khan, Hasan-Uddin, ed. The Mosque: History, Architectural Development & Regional Diversity. New York, N.Y.: Thames and Hudson, 1994.

A collection of articles by scholars on the subject of Islamic mosques, this book addresses the variety of building styles that exist in the Islamic world. Broken down by region, each chapter in the book is written by a different scholar. Of particular interest is chapter 10, by Labelle Prussin, on sub-Saharan West Africa. This chapter contains photographs, and plan views of several of the most important mosques in west Africa.

Blier, Suzanne Preston. The Anatomy of Architecture: Ontology and Metaphor in Batammaliba Architectural Expression. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987.

This book deals with the Batammaliba people of Togo and their “cosmogony, religion, psychology, society, politics, and theater.” It is actually more of a very detailed look at a specific group of native people in Africa and less a look at Islamic architecture in west Africa.

Bourdier, Jean-Paul and Minh-ha, Trinh T. Drawn From African Dwellings. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996.

This book is full of hand sketches and photographs of hundreds of western African dwellings, from homes to shrines to mosques. Sketches include plan views, axonometric views, perspectives, and many other informative, beautifully drawn representations of these African dwellings. Several different cultures are discussed, from their history to their building styles.

Bourdier, Jean-Paul. “Dwelling with Spirit.” Progressive Architecture 75 Issue 7 (July 1996) 96-99.

This article is short but very interesting. It deals with two examples of traditional West African housing, and discusses the relationship between their physical function and their spiritual purpose. It shows the impluvium house, used by the Joola people of southern Senegal, and the dwellings of the Tokolor who live in the border area between Mauritania and Senegal.

Bourdier, Jean-Paul and Pelos, Carollee. “West African Adobe: Mud at Its Most Magnificent.” American Visions 7 Issue 1 (Feb/Mar 1992) 16-20.

This article features the use of mud as a building material in West Africa. Stronger for its images than text, it showcases the Great Mosque of Djenné, built entirely of adobe. The article describes the process undertaken when west Africans build an adobe structure, and the maintenance that accompanies it.

Bourgeois, Jean-Louis. Spectacular Vernacular: The Adobe Tradition. New York: Aperture Foundation, 1989.

This is an amazing book with large, bright photographs and informative information on the adobe building techniques and applications of various cultures, most of which are located in western Africa. It describes in detail the construction method and the maintenance required on adobe. It gives wonderful examples of homes, villages, and mosques, and the various styles that have resulted from the use of adobe.

Carroll, Kevin. Architecture of Nigeria: Architectures of the Hausa and Yoruba Peoples and of the Many Peoples Between Tradition and Modernization. London: Ethnographica, 1992.

“This book describes traditional architectures in the western half of Nigeria and the dramatic impact which modernization has had on them. It also describes the various, though limited, ways in which traditional architectures have influenced architecture today.” It describes the Hausa and Yoruba people, as well as the several hundred other groups, all with different languages, in between them, and their different building styles.

Elleh, Nnamdi. African Architecture: Evolution and Transformation. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, 1996.

This book is a record of the “evolution, transformation, and development of African architecture” covering “historical, traditional, and contemporary African architecture.” It talks about the three “major roots” of architecture in Africa, being indigenous, Islamic, and Western. Of particular interest is part 5 of this book, which discusses West African architecture by each country in that region.

Ettinghausen, Richard and Grabar, Oleg. The Art and Architecture of Islam, 650-1250. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994.

This is a detailed history of Islamic art and architecture, but unfortunately does not deal with western Africa. It describes Muslim art and architecture from the beginning of the Muslim faith, and follows its development throughout its history, and in the various regions where Islam took strong hold. It discusses Muslim art and architecture from Spain, North Africa, Egypt, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Central Asia, Anatolia, Turkey and the former Soviet Union.

Hill, Derek. Islamic Architecture and its Decoration, AD 800-1500; a Photographic Survey. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1964.

Full of wonderful photos, this book unfortunately does not give much attention to Islamic architecture in western Africa. The text portion focuses on history as well as specific examples of Islamic architecture, but most of the examples are taken from the Middle East and far East.

Hughes, David. Afrocentric Architecture: A Design Primer: Greyden Press, 1994.

I used this book mainly for the photographs and information on soul mounds and for ways in which some structures are built.  However, there is a lot more useful information for those doing in depth research in this area.

Prussin, Labelle. African Nomadic Architecture: Space, Place, and Gender. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1995.

This book looks at the architecture of nomadic tribes in Africa, including the construction, transportation, and creativity of this building type. It discusses how the environment of the nomads has affected their architecture. It contains photographs, plans, etc… of many types of nomadic building.

Prussin, Labelle. Hatumere: Islamic Design in West Africa. Berkley: University of California Press, c1986.

This book focuses on the role that Islam has played in shaping the art and architecture of Western Africa. It is extremely in depth both in terms of its text and pictures/diagrams. It discusses everything from physical environment to history.

Nast, Heidi J. “Islam, gender, and slavery in West Africa circa 1500: a spatial archaeology of the Kano palace, northern Nigeria.” The Annals of the Association of American Geographers 86 Issue 1 (Mar 1996) 44-77.

This article is a study of the Kano palace in northern Nigeria, one of the largest palaces built in Western Africa. The author’s work is based on spatial analysis, not on written text. She focuses on the spatial relationships as they deal with gender and slavery, but the article provides much information about all aspects of the Palace.

Trimingham, J. Spencer. Islam in West Africa. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1959.

This author focuses on the impact that the Islamic faith has had on all aspects of life in the countries that make up Western Africa. Though not devoted to architecture, he does, in several places, describe the role of the mosque in the every day life of the people, and describes the various forms that the mosque can take, from a very elaborate building, to a simple marked-off section of a nomadic camp.