https://doi.org/10.23858/JUE17.2019.018
The process of settling within a space in traditional agricultural societies takes place at the cosmic and social level. Its aim is to unite the invisible forces that govern the earth and to set up a framework for procreation in accordance with the accepted principles of marriage. The article is based on research conducted among the Konkomba people from North Togo, who settled in the vast area of the Oti Valley about 200 years ago. It is a typically acephalous society, characterized by a large dispersion of settlements and political independence of families. The occupation of new areas was related to the creation of a symbolic reference to the land and by the construction of homesteads and housing estates as spaces of life, with the confirmation of ties between family members as well as between the living and dead relatives. The intimacy of the house, the rituals regulating human relationships and fertility provided by the ancestors and the spirits governing the earth, enable the Konkombas to feel safe in everyday life.
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