Through a combination of rich architectural and ethnographic description, this study of apprenticeship and human spatial cognition provides a fascinating insight into the daily lives and activities of a professional class of craftsmen, and investigates the unique teaching-learning processes that distinguish their trade and mould both their professional and social characters.

Through a combination of rich architectural and ethnographic description, this study of apprenticeship and human spatial cognition provides a fascinating insight into the daily lives and activities of a professional class of craftsmen, and investigates the unique teaching-learning processes that distinguish their trade and mould both their professional and social characters.

Twenty chapters, authored by leading scholars from around the world, explore the astonishing variety of building styles and traditions that have evolved over millennia in a region of diverse terrains, extreme climates and distinctive local histories. Generations of highly-skilled masons, carpenters and craftspeople have deftly employed the materials-to-hand and indigenous technologies to create urban architectural assemblages, gardens and rural landscapes that dialogue harmoniously with the natural contours and geological conditions of southern Arabia. A sharp escalation in military action and violence in the country since the 1990s has had a devastating impact on the region's rich cultural heritage. In bringing together the astute observations and reflections of an international and interdisciplinary group of acclaimed scholars, the principal aim of this book is to raise awareness among the general public and policy makers of Yemen's long history of cultural creativity, and of the very urgent need for international collaboration to protect it and its people from the destructive forces that have beset the region.Following the editor's introduction, the book is divided into three parts. Part One introduces readers to the astonishing variety of architecture and building traditions across the country, from the Red Sea coast, eastward into the mountainous highlands, to the edge of the Sahara desert, and southward into the deep, dramatic wadis of the Hadhramaut. Part Two is dedicated to exploring the issues and the challenges of conserving and preserving Yemen's rich architectural heritage. Part Three offers vivid personal insights - both historical and contemporary - into the making of place and the construction of identities.