Summoning the Ancestors explores a collection of 72 ofo (small ritual objects) and 74 bells produced in southern Nigeria by Igala, Igbo, Edo, Yoruba, and other neighboring peoples, which was gifted to the Fowler Museum by Mark Clayton. The use of bronze ofo, dynamic symbols of one's relationship with the ancestors, dates back to at least the fifteenth century. Ofo likely derive from wire-wrapped bundles of twigs from a tree venerated in southern Nigeria. Bells-largely made in the late nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries-were cast in copper alloys of bronze or brass, using the lost-wax technique. Many were rung to invoke ancestors or nature spirits, and some announced the presence of important members of the living world, such as priests or local rulers. Richly illustrated, Summoning the Ancestors highlights the remarkable degree of variation possible even in such modest artistic genres.

This book demonstrates that copper-alloy casting was widespread in southern Nigeria and has been practiced for at least a millennium. Philip M. Peek's research provides a critical context for the better-known casting traditions of Igbo-Ukwu, Ife, and Benin. Both the necessary ores and casting skills were widely available, contrary to previous scholarly assumptions. The majority of the Lower Niger Bronzes, which we know number in the thousands, are of subjects not found elsewhere, such as leopard skull replicas, grotesque bell heads, ritual objects, and humanoid figures. Important puzzle pieces are now in place to permit a more complete reconstruction of southern Nigerian history. The book will be of interest to scholars working in art history, African studies, African history, and anthropology.

Contents:
Africans in the United Kingdom; Africans in the USA; Akan/Ashanti; Algeria; Ancestors; Angola; Animals in African Folklore; Arabic Folk Literature of North Africa; Architecture; Archives of Traditional Music; Astronomy; Bamana; Banjo: African Roots; Bao; Bascom, William; Basketry, African; Basketry, African American; Beadwork; Benin; Birth and Death Rituals among the Gikuyu; Blacksmiths: Dar Zaghawa of the Sudan; Blacksmiths: Mande of Western Africa; Body Arts: African American Arts of the Body; Body Arts: Body Decoration in Africa; Body Arts: Hair Sculpture; Botswana; Burkina Faso; Burundi; Callaway, Bishop Henry; Cameroon; Cape Verde; Cardinal Directions; Caribbean Verbal Arts; Carnivals and African American Cultures; Cartoons; Central African Folklore; Central African Republic; Ceramics; Ceramics and Gender; Chad; Chief; Children's Folklore: Iteso Songs of War Time; Children's Folklore: Kunda Songs; Children's Folklore: Ndeble; Classiques Africaines; Color Symbolism: The Akan of Ghana; Comoros; Concert Parties; Congo (Republic of the Congo); Contemporary Bards: Hausa Verbal Artists; Cosmology; Cote d'Ivoire; Cote d'Ivoire, Folklore; Crowley, Daniel; Dance: Overview with a Focus on Namibia; Decorated Vehicles (Focus on Western Nigeria); Democratic Republic of Congo; Dialogic Performances: Call and Response in African Narrating; Diaspora: African Communities in the United Kingdom; Diaspora: African Communities in the United States; Diaspora: African Traditions in Brazil; Diaspora: Sea Islands of the USA; Dilemma Tales; Divination: Household Divination Among the Kongo; Divination: Ifá Divination in Cuba; Divination: Overview; Djibouti; Dolls and Toys; Drama: Anang Ibibio Traditional Drama; Draughts; Dreams; Dress; Drumming: Ewe; Dyula; East African Folklore: Overview; Education: Folklore in Schools; Egypt; Electronic Media and Oral Traditions; Epics: Liongo Epic of the Swahili; Epics: Overview; Epics: West African Epics; Equatorial Guinea; Eritrea; Eshu, the Yoruba Trickster; Esthetics: Baule Visual Arts; Ethiopia; Evans-Pritchard, E. E.; Evil Eye; Festivals: Mutomboko Festival of the Lunda; Films on African Folklore; Folk Tales; Foodways: Cattle and Sorghum Grain in Jie Cosmology; Foodways: Yoruba Food Vendors; French Study of African Folklore; Frobenius, L.; Gabon; Gambia, The; Gender Representation in African Folklore; German Study of African Folklore; Gesture in African Oral Narrative; Ghana; Gossip and Rumor; Gourds: Their Uses and Decorations; Government Policies Toward Folklore; Greetings: A Case Study from the Kerebe; Griaule, Marcel; Griots and Griottes; Guinea; Guinea-Bissau; Healing and Spirit Possession in São Tomé and Príncipe; Hero; Hero in Sukuma Prose Narratives; Herskovits, Melville J.; History and Cultural Identity: The Chokwe; History and Folklore: The Luba; History and Religious Rituals: Bemba Traditions; Housing, African American Traditions; Hunting: Aka Net Hunting; Identity and Folklore: The Kunda; Ideophones; Indian Ocean Islands: The Process of Creolization; Initiation; Institutional Study of African Folklore; Insults and Ribald Language; Islamic Brotherhoods: Baye Fall and Yengu, A Mouride Spirituality; Japanese Study of African Folklore; Jews of Ethiopia; Jokes and Humor; Joking Relationships; Kenya; Kwanzaa; Languages; Languages: Africanisms in the Americas; Legends: East Africa; Lesotho; Libation; Liberia; Libraries; Libya; Linguistics and African Verbal Arts; Madagascar; Maghrib (northwestern North Africa); Maghrib: Algeria; Maghrib: Berber Peoples: Their Language and Folklore; Malagasy Folklore and its Study; Malawi; Mali; Mami Wata in Central Africa; Mancala; Maqalat: Concepts of Folklore in the Sudan; Masks and Masquerades; Masquerading by Women: Ejagham; Mauritania; Mauritius; Medicine: Folk Medicine of the Hausa; Medicine: Indigeneous Therapeutic Systems in Western Kenya; Medicine: Overview; Metallurgy and Folklore; Morocco; Mozambique; Music and Dance: Uganda; Music in Africa: Overview; Music: African Musical Traditions in the US; Music: Arab and Jewish Music of North Africa; Music: Atalaku of Central Africa; Music: Music and Dance Styles of the Ewe; Music: Musical Innovation in African Independent Churches; Music: Popular Dance Music in Congo-Zaire; Music: Soukouss; Music: West African Highlife; Musical Instruments: Focus on Namibia; Myths: Mythology and Society in Madagascar: A Tanala Example; Myths: Myths of Origin and Sculpture: The Makonde; Myths: Overview; Namibia; Naming Customs in Africa; Naming Customs: East Africa; Narration and Verbal Discourse: The Lugbara of Uganda; Niger; Nigeria; Northeast Africa: Overview; Northeastern Africa ("The Horn"): Overview; Nsibidi: An Indigenous Writing System; Okyeame; Old Man and Old Woman; Oral Literary Research in Africa; Oral Literature: Issues of Definition and Terminology; Oral Narrative; Oral Performance and Literature; Oral Performance Dynamics; Oral Tradition and Oral Historiography; Oral Tradition: Oral History and Zambia; Oral Traditions; Oral Traditions: African; Orality and Literacy in Africa; Oratory: An Introduction; Oratory: Political Oratory and its Use of Traditional Verbal Art; Origins and Culture Heroes: Nilotic Peoples; Orisha; Orphan Motif; Oxford Library of African Literature; Oyo tunji: A Yoruba Community in the USA; Palaver (Kinzonzi) in Kongo Life; Performance in Africa; Performance Studies and African Folklore Research; Performing Arts of São Tomé and Príncipe; Performing Arts of the Tiv; Performing Arts of Uganda; Personal Narratives; Pidgin and Creole Languages; Polyrhythms; Popular Culture; Portuguese Study of African Folklore; Praise Poetry: Praise Poetry of the Basotho; Praise Poetry: Praise Poetry of the Xhosa; Praise Poetry: Southern African Praise Poetry; Praise Poetry: Xhosa Praise Poetry for Nelson Mandela; Praise Poetry: Yoruba Oriki; Prose and Poetry of the Fulani; Prose Narratives: The Maasai; Prose Narratives: The Mende; Prose Narratives: The Tabwa; Proverbs; Proverbs: Sesotho Proverbs; Puppetry; Queen Mothers; Radio and Television Dramas; Rastafari: A Marginalized People; Rattray, R. S.; Religion: African Traditional Religion; Religions: Afro-Brazilian Religions; Religious Ceremonies and Festivals: São Tomé and Príncipe; Riddles; Riddles: Sesotho Riddles; Ritual Performance; Rwanda; Rwanda: Folklore; Sahir; Santería in Cuba; São Tomé and Príncipe; Secrecy in African Orature; Senegal; Seychelles; Sheng: East African Urban Folk Speech; Sierre Leone; Silence in Expressive Behavior; Sîra: North African Epics; Somalia; Songs for Ceremonies; Songs of the Dyula; South Africa; Southern Africa: Overview; Southern Africa: Contemporary Forms of Folklore; Southern Africa: Shona Folklore; Southern African Oral Traditions; Speaking and Non-Speaking Power Objects of the Senufo; Spirit Possession: Comfa: Spirit Possession Dance in Guyana; Spirit Possession: Kunda; Spirit Possession: Tuareg and Songhay; Spirit Possession: West Africa; Stories and Story-Telling: The Limba; Storytellers; Sudan; Superstitions; Surrogate Languages: Alternative Communication; Swaziland; Tanzania; Textile Arts and Communication; Textiles: African American Quilts, Textiles, and Cloth Charms; Theater: African Popular Theater; Theater: Duro Ladipo and Yoruba Folk Theater; Theater: Popular Theater in Southern Africa; Theater: Theater for Development; Theater: Yoruba Folk Theater; Togo; Tongue Twisters, East Africa; Tongue-Twisters: Yoruba; Touring Performance Groups; Tourism and Tourist Arts; Translation; Tricksters in African Folklore; Tricksters: Ture of the Azande; Tuareg and the Performance of Prose Narratives; Tunisia; Typology and Performance in the Study of Prose Narratives in Africa; Uganda; Urban Folklore: A Sudanese Example; Urban Folklore: The Swahili of Zanzibar; Verbal Arts: African American; Verbal Arts: The Ibibio of Southeastern Nigeria; Visual and Performing Arts: The Songye; Visual Arts: Uli Painting of the Igbo; Vodou; Voice Disguisers; Wari; Water Ethos: The Ijo of the Niger Delta; West African Folklore: An Overview; Western Sahara; Witchcraft, Magic and Sorcery; Women Pop Singers of Mali; Women's Expressive Culture in Africa; Women's Folklore: Eritrea; Women's Folklore: Ghana; Words and the Dogon; Work Songs; Yards and Gardens: African American Traditions; Zambia; Zar: Spirit Possession in the Sudan; Zimbabwe

This book demonstrates that copper-alloy casting was widespread in southern Nigeria and has been practiced for at least a millennium. Philip M. Peek's research provides a critical context for the better-known casting traditions of Igbo-Ukwu, Ife, and Benin. Both the necessary ores and casting skills were widely available, contrary to previous scholarly assumptions. The majority of the Lower Niger Bronzes, which we know number in the thousands, are of subjects not found elsewhere, such as leopard skull replicas, grotesque bell heads, ritual objects, and humanoid figures. Important puzzle pieces are now in place to permit a more complete reconstruction of southern Nigerian history. The book will be of interest to scholars working in art history, African studies, African history, and anthropology.

In Africa, where the birthrate of twins is among the highest in the world, twins can be seen as a burden to their families and a threat to the social order, or they can be seen as a gift from God and beings with unique abilities who bring about social harmony. Philip M. Peek and the contributors to this illuminating, multidisciplinary volume explore this rich cultural heritage by examining topics such as twins in artistic representation, twins and divination, and twins in performance, cosmology, religion, and popular culture.

First published in 2004. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

"This volume of finely crafted case studies is also the vehicle for an important general theory of divination.... this is a book overflowing with ideas that will powerfully stimulate further research." Journal of Ritual Studies

"The essays in this collection provide a very useful overview of both the diversity of African divination systems and of recent approaches to their study." Choice

This unique collection of essays by an exceptional international group of Africanists demonstrates the central role that divination continues to play throughout Africa in maintaining cultural systems and in guiding human action. African Divination Systems offers insights for current discussions in comparative epistemology, cross-cultural psychology, cognition studies, semiotics, ethnoscience, religious studies, and anthropology."