A similar narrative and promise once mobilized a “People.” It occurred in ancient Africa 6,000 years ago. The Nubian Arch/vault, an inverted catenary curve, symbolized a reciprocal process between identity and presentation of self.
Social reciprocity in Nubian society was the code governing social interactions and exchange. In the long run, it fostered trust, affection, and cooperation, creating social capital that enabled individuals, families, and groups to access broader social networks.
The Nubian arch/vault, predicated on the structural reciprocity of its mud bricks, produced spaces and forms expressing its social determinants.
These spaces and forms served as guided imagery and gestalt, symbolizing the community’s values and commercial success to others.
It found its most extensive acceptance as an expression of social capital - access to networks - among potters and kiln makers. Through their solidarity, their in-group knowledge spread worldwide, shaping ceramics, sculpture, housing, storage facilities, and burial chambers.
The promise of the compass and straight edge has reached its limit. The promise of structural reciprocity has yet to be fully fulfilled. Hampered by a lack of strength of materials and construction techniques, the Nubian arch/vault has remained relatively obscure. But those hindrances are no longer an issue.
It's time for structural reciprocity in space and form to find again their place in the urban landscape to advocate for a social narration that redefines constructs like family, freedom, play, sexual equality, and democracy.
But to rely on structural reciprocity at this juncture to produce a new form, a “People”-must mean that a “People” must be made.
