This study explores the various factors that impacted on the materiality of the ntlo, the house of a
married Tswana woman and her children, from the earliest recorded examples in the early nineteenth
century, to the present. While the kgotla (the traditional male meeting place) features prominently in
settlement research, the vernacular Tswana dwelling has received less attention. The study contradicts
the simplistic and popular perception, that pre-industrial communities simply built their vernacular
constructions with whatever material was available. It is found that, in addition to the availability
of material, the critical determining factors that shaped materiality include gender, the earth and
cosmology.
Hierdie studie ondersoek die verskeie faktore wat ‘n invloed uitgeoefen het op die materialiteit van
die ntlo, die huis van ‘n getroude Tswana vrou en haar kinders, vanaf die eersgenoteerde voorbeelde
in die vroëe negentiende eeu tot op hede. Terwyl die kgotla (die tradisionele vergaderplek van
mans) prominent in nedersettingsnavorsing gemeld word, het die volkseie Tswana-woning minder
aandag ontvang. Die studie weerspreek die simplistiese en gewilde opvatting dat voor-industriële
gemeenskappe eenvoudig hulle inheemse konstruksies gebou het met die materiaal wat tot hulle
bekikking was. Benewens die beskikbaarheid van material, is die bevinding dat die kritiese bepalende
faktore wat materialiteit gevorm het, geslag, die aarde en kosmologie insluit .
