Socio-anthropological analysis of the new form of justification for the choice of compressed earth block for the construction the housing masonry in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

This article builds on the basic reflections initiated to study the logics and motivations that justify the choice of CEB as masonry for housing construction in Burkina Faso. Few sociological studies have been carried out in relation to the construction methods using CEB. Through a qualitative approach, semi-directive interviews were conducted with a minority of users of CEB who have very high economic and cultural capital. The article shows that the construction using CEB among a fraction of the elites is based on four main interconnected forms of justification: i) a technical justification based on ecological reasoning, ii) a culture of social distinction and a quest for social prestige and conspicuous consumption, iii) an identity-based justification based on a desire to re-appropriate autochthony and "reimagined authenticity" iv) and a justification that transcends that of autochthony through post-materialist values linked to the global issues of the sustainable development goals (SDGs). In view of these new forms of justification, the article shows that one of the ways of disseminating CEB in Ouagadougou would be through the dissemination of ecological reasoning in the public space.