The Ba-ila settlements of southern Zambia are enormous rings. They are made up of smaller rings, which are livestock pens (corrals). And those are made up of smaller rings which are single cylindrical houses and storage rooms. It is a ring of rings of rings. Toward the back of the village is a miniature village; that of the chief's extended family. Toward the back of each corral is the family living quarters. And toward the back of each house is the sacred altar. As a logician would put it, the chief’s family ring is to the whole settlement as the altar is to the house. They view this as a recurring functional role between different scales within the settlement. The chief’s relation to his people is described by the word kulela, a word we would translate as ‘to rule’. However it has this only as a secondary meaning – kulela is primarily to nurse and to cherish. The same word applied to a mother caring for her child, making the chief the father of the community. This relationship is echoed throughout family and spiritual ties at all scales and is structurally mapped through self-similar architecture.