archaeography

In the 1980s the communist government of Ethiopia undertook a colossal process of social engineering that included the resettlement of several hundred thousand peasants in model farms and collective villages all over the country. The new houses were dismal structures, made of concrete and tin, without any respect for vernacular architectural traditions. After the fall of the communist regime, they were suddenly abandoned. They stand now as a reminder of a dream of reason turned nigthmare.