The View from the Verandah: Levuka Bungalows and the Transformation of Settler Identities in Later Colonialism: Historical Archaeology and Vernacular Architecture of Levuka, Fiji

Author: Purser M.

Source: International Journal of Historical Archaeology, Volume 7, Number 4, December 2003 , pp. 293-314(22)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

The residential architecture of Levuka, Fiji, contains a diverse and well-preserved sample of what architectural historians have called the “British tropical bungalow.” Dating to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, these small frame structures bear witness to the in situ development of a descendant colonialist identity amongst the European settlers of the port town. Analysis of the degree to which these houses conform to, and diverge from, the normative traits of the global bungalow style provides insight into the material processes of later colonialist communities and their increasingly complex cultural and social identities.

Keywords: tropical bungalow; vernacular architecture; south Pacific; cultural landscape

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/B:IJHA.0000014314.34989.de

Affiliations: 1: Department of Anthropology and Linguistics, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, California 94928;, Email: margaret.purser@sonoma.edu

Publication date: 2003-12-01