Ethnic Buildways: Phenomenology in the Architectural Grammar of Later Medieval Cordoba (Spain)

Abstract

This article addresses a fundamental problem encountered when interpreting past material culture as signifiers of ethnic identity: classifying cultural remains as ethnic styles produces static interpretations which do not recognise changes over time. An alternative methodological approach is proposed that examines the phenomenological aspects of past ethnic communities’ practices, termed buildways, which were embodied in the production and inhabitation of past built environments. Using the case study of medieval Córdoba’s religious architecture, it is argued that reconfiguring the buildways of architectural grammar is a route into interpreting the actions of ethnically aware people. Expressions of ethnic identities can be found in the adaptations and hybridisations of architectural settings that accommodated the requirements of ethnic practices. Critically, those ethnic practices changed over generations. Show more