Dakali, the disappearing Hausa architectural design in homes

The ledge or platform was usually constructed with and more recently it used to be cemented and smoothened to give comfort to those who seat on them. Most of these ledges or Dakali are used as a place for hospitality, in the sense that the head of the household receives male visitors and entertains them […]

The ledge or platform was usually constructed with and more recently it used to be cemented and smoothened to give comfort to those who seat on them. Most of these ledges or Dakali are used as a place for hospitality, in the sense that the head of the household receives male visitors and entertains them there. Sometimes serious consultations are made as children pass through the front on the building which is always near the ledge.

Dakali serves as meeting point for young men, especially those interested in political and social discourse. Malam Sanusi Umar of the Federal College Of Education, Kano views the Dakali as a centre or the first platform for major political analysis. He thinks as a centre it gives the youths the ground to express themselves in a communal way, “It is beyond just a recreational place, it is a uniting place.”

The supper was usually taken on the Dakali in the past especially during the summer as the hot weather is unbearable, and therefore Dakali had been having significant role in the Hausa society which resembled the dinner table in recent times. The male dominate the sitting of the Dakali unless perhaps hawking girls, you hardly see ladies on the Dakali. More often the age groups differ in the sitting on Dakali as the elderly will not sit when the young men are on it, as it is not polite for the young to sit when the older men are seen on it.

What is the origin of Dakali? Professor Abdulkadir Dangambo of the Bayero University Kano explains that the origin of Dakali is linked with the Arabs who influenced the architectures of the Hausa centuries ago. He said the ledge was also used to beautify homes and was symbolic for reference and description purposes.

Dakali however is seen by many as a base for gossip and other social atrocities, there is the tendency for people to indulge in backbiting when they overstay on Dakali. Aliyu Ahmed Tsagem is a resident of Katsina who feels that modernity is fading Dakali. In Katsina you only see Dakali in the old city but hardly in the GRA or outskirts. “What replaced Dakali are the benches and plastic chairs people sit and relax on,” Aliyu said. His view tallies with that of professor Dangambo who sees the coming of parlours inside the houses as the threat to Dakali. The culture of living rooms has taken over and people don’t sit outside anymore due to the adaptation of western culture.

Sani Muhammad is a bricklayer who has built some Dakali in the past attributes the decline in the Dakali to a generational shift occurring rapidly, nowadays the trend is going towards self contained houses where there isn`t a place for Dakali. He also observes that the ruling classes who keep the tradition of hosting people are no longer able to keep it. “They are not like the old men who are always there for people” he noted. Moreover Sani relates the issue to urbanisation as he said in today`s competitive society the spaces were not there for such extra structures. The houses have little or no space at the front to add such structure, according to the bricklayer.

The platform faces extinction in the wake of modernity, and in the view of professor Dangambo there will be a time when Dakali will not be seen and it will be history.

Before the time, however, Dakali will be cherished by those who sit on it to relax and not minding of its fate, in the modernising world.