From my experience exploring the cultures of the African continent, I feel quite proud to be Ethiopian. This is because the culture in Ethiopia remains to be quite resilient to external influence. This can be significantly associated with the fact that Ethiopia is one of few countries that escaped European imperialism through colonization. Consequently, the building identity created during the pre-colonial period in Africa still stands despite the social, political, and economical advancements that Ethiopians enjoy today. Nevertheless, change is inevitable and as Ethiopia continues to open its doors to globalization, the building culture and identity will keep changing.
I believe that Ethiopian culture and identity in architecture can be traced from the early Christian society. As I grew up, I came across many stories about the foundation of Christianity after the Ark of the Covenant was brought to Ethiopia by Emperor Menelik from Jerusalem. This resulted in the foundation of the longest monarchical government, which came with the building of numerous churches, religious sites, and palaces that emulated the culture of the ancient Christian society . There are many sites that can attest the influence of Christianity on the Ethiopian building culture and identity. Such is the case of the Chapel of Tablet depicted in the figure below.
Figure 1: Chapel of the Tablet
Despite Christianity having a tremendous influence on the culture and building identity, the native style of architecture is still evident. This native style of building has significant variations from one place to another considering that Ethiopia has at least 86 ethnic identities. This building culture reflect the climatic and societal conditions among the indigenous people . However, the demand for more housing has interrupted this ancient building cultures and identities, which leaves a significant level of ambiguity. I would like to focus on understanding the effect of globalization on the culture and identity of architecture in Ethiopia
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