THOME
Nairobi
Nairobi
At the heart of one of the continent’s most stable nations, nairobi has become the most powerful city in central africa. It is strategically located between cairo and johannesburg, with the rift valley to its west and the great plains to its east. These aspects combined with the financial impact of trade on the indian ocean and a temperate climate forged the foundations of a prosperous capital. Centuries of muslim, arabic and christian influence, coupled with the history of european colonialism and persistent recognition of tribal customs has developed nairobi into an intensely diverse cultural milieu. Additionally, the recent influx of somali immigrants has begun to shape a new identity within the already complex indigenous culture.
Cultural paradoxes have become familiar parts of this complex structure that underpins life in nairobi. Here, a sailing club adjoins an unusable reservoirs, over-run with thick vegetation; a water parks operates in a landscape still suffering the effects of failed rains; a public golf course is squashed with the confines of a horse racing track and gated housing projects reflect the influence of 1970’s american suburbia. These contradictions are not singularly the work of mismanagement, poor governance or lack of planning. Rather, they reflect attempts to combat the continual state of flux to which nairobi must adjust, sometimes with obvious disparity.
The word ‘thome’ once referenced the entrance to a tribal compound; it was said that one would find men at the thome and women in the kitchen. Today, in a kenyan society where women are more empowered than ever before and traditional compounds have made way for multi-storey flats, the only use of this now redundant word is the name of one of nairobi’s many middle-class suburbs.
As contradictory situations, objects and landscapes conflict with social strata and cultural traditions, thome reveals the state of constant transition and adaptation taking place in nairobi today.
Cultural paradoxes have become familiar parts of this complex structure that underpins life in nairobi. Here, a sailing club adjoins an unusable reservoirs, over-run with thick vegetation; a water parks operates in a landscape still suffering the effects of failed rains; a public golf course is squashed with the confines of a horse racing track and gated housing projects reflect the influence of 1970’s american suburbia. These contradictions are not singularly the work of mismanagement, poor governance or lack of planning. Rather, they reflect attempts to combat the continual state of flux to which nairobi must adjust, sometimes with obvious disparity.
The word ‘thome’ once referenced the entrance to a tribal compound; it was said that one would find men at the thome and women in the kitchen. Today, in a kenyan society where women are more empowered than ever before and traditional compounds have made way for multi-storey flats, the only use of this now redundant word is the name of one of nairobi’s many middle-class suburbs.
As contradictory situations, objects and landscapes conflict with social strata and cultural traditions, thome reveals the state of constant transition and adaptation taking place in nairobi today.
