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Explores the dynamics of African masquerades and mask performances
on the continent, linking performative expressions to societal
characteristics. What is the meaning of masks and masquerades in
African traditions and how can we understand their role in rituals
and performances? Why do we find masks in some African regions and
not in others, and what does this 'mask habitat' say about the
general dynamics of masquerades in Africa? Though masks are among
the most famous art icons of Africa, exploration of their uses and
the way in which they articulate social characteristics of African
societies has been underexamined. This book takes an
anthropological perspective on the phenomenon of masquerades on the
African continent to show how mask rituals are an integral part of
African indigenous religions and societies, and are informed by and
linked to specific types of social and ecological conditions.
Having established the commonalities of mask rituals and a mask
typology, the authors look at the varieties of mask performances
and the types of rituals in which masks function in rites of
passage and in rituals of gender, power, and identity. The
following chapters focus on different types of rituals featuring
masks, from initiation and death ceremonies to secrecy, kingship,
law and war. With its broad examination of the use of masks on the
continent, from Angola to Burkina Faso, Cameroon, DRC, Guinea,
Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, this well illustrated
book will stand as an authoritative study of the use of masks, of
interest not only to those in African Studies but to
anthropologists and ethnographers worldwide.
This study on Kapsiki-Higi tales compares two corpuses of stories
collected over two generations. In this oral setting, folktales
appear much more dynamic than usually assumed, depending on genre,
performance and the memory characteristics of the tales themselves.
In northeastern Nigeria the author collected these tales twice with
a time gap of two generations, in order to assess the dynamics of
this oral transmission. The comparison between the two corpuses
shows that folktales are a much more dynamic cultural system than
is usually thought. These dynamics affect some types of tales more
than others, reflect social change and intergroup contact, but also
depend on characteristics of the tales themselves. Cognitive
approaches of memory shed light on these varieties of transmission,
as do performance aspects in tale telling, in particular
ideophones.
This study on Kapsiki-Higi tales compares two corpuses of stories
collected over two generations. In this oral setting, folktales
appear much more dynamic than usually assumed, depending on genre,
performance and the memory characteristics of the tales themselves.
In northeastern Nigeria the author collected these tales twice with
a time gap of two generations, in order to assess the dynamics of
this oral transmission. The comparison between the two corpuses
shows that folktales are a much more dynamic cultural system than
is usually thought. These dynamics affect some types of tales more
than others, reflect social change and intergroup contact, but also
depend on characteristics of the tales themselves. Cognitive
approaches of memory shed light on these varieties of transmission,
as do performance aspects in tale telling, in particular
ideophones.
William C. Olsen, Walter E. A. van Beek, and the contributors to
this volume seek to understand how Africans have confronted evil
around them. Grouped around notions of evil as a cognitive or
experiential problem, evil as malevolent process, and evil as an
inversion of justice, these essays investigate what can be accepted
and what must be condemned in order to evaluate being and morality
in African cultural and social contexts. These studies of evil
entanglements take local and national histories and identities into
account, including state politics and civil war, religious
practices, Islam, gender, and modernity.
Africa is a 'theme park' for Western tourists to experience
untouched wilderness, untamed nature, and truly 'authentic'
cultures, where the hosts, too, are part of a discourse about the
'other' and ourselves, about wildness, danger and roots. Tourism is
important for Africa: international tourist arrivals to Africa
continue to grow, income from tourism is crucial to national
economies, and tourism investments are considered among the most
profitable. This edited volumedeals with the interaction of local
communities with tourists coming into their areas and villages.
Based upon a common theoretical approach, fourteen cases of African
tourism are discussed which involve direct contact between 'hosts'
and 'guests'. The viewpoint throughout is from the side of the
locals, establishing how the processes of interaction shape each
small scale destination. Crucial in Africa is the fact that the
large majority of tourism is game oriented and the interaction
between locals and visitors is very much 'tainted' by this fact.
Central is the notion of the tourist bubble - the infrastructure
that is generated locally (and internationally) for hosting
tourists, as it is this institutional interface that tends to
impact on the local society and culture, not the tourists
themselves directly. The examples come from all over Africa, from
the Sahara to the Eastern Cape, and from Kenyato Ghana. All
contributions are based upon original fieldwork. Walter van Beek is
professor of anthropology at Tilburg University and Senior
Researcher at the African Studies Centre, Leiden; Annette Schmidt
is curatorof the African department at the National Museum of
Ethnology in Leiden, and is an archaeologist with a long experience
in cultural management projects.
A major collection on the subject of African religion. Brings
together the views of some of the most distinguished academics in
the context of African history, anthropology, politics, comparative
religion, health and healing, languages and literatures, and the
visual and performing arts. It is based on solid archival and field
research in Africa and the African diaspora. Published in
association with The David M. Kennedy Center, Brigham Young
University. North America: Heinemann
In the Dogon funeral proceedings, a major song cycle called baja ni
is performed in a session of at least seven hours. The texts of the
chants are attributed to a legendary figure called Abire, who as a
blind singer in the nineteenth century roamed the heartland of the
Dogon. The baja ni songs have escaped scholarly attention thus far.
Singing with the Dogon Prophet by Walter E.A. van Beek, Oumarou S.
Ongoiba, and Atim D. Saye provides their first publication in
English as well as an analysis of these songs. These texts deal
with the relations between man and woman, man's ambivalent
dependency on the otherworld, and with life and death; the whole
night performance is one of the high points of the funeral.
Additionally, Abire is a prophet, and during his life has uttered a
great number of prophecies on a wide range of topics, from local
issues to the relation of the Dogon with the Fulbe herdsmen, and
from the arrival of the colonials to ecological transformation.
This book examines how these prophecies with these songs offer an
inside view of the way the Dogon construct the present in a
continuous dialogue with their past and their projected future.
William C. Olsen, Walter E. A. van Beek, and the contributors to
this volume seek to understand how Africans have confronted evil
around them. Grouped around notions of evil as a cognitive or
experiential problem, evil as malevolent process, and evil as an
inversion of justice, these essays investigate what can be accepted
and what must be condemned in order to evaluate being and morality
in African cultural and social contexts. These studies of evil
entanglements take local and national histories and identities into
account, including state politics and civil war, religious
practices, Islam, gender, and modernity.
Walter E. A. van Beek draws on over four decades of extensive
fieldwork to offer an in-depth study of the religion of the
Kapsiki/Higi, who live in the Mandara Mountains on the border
between North Cameroon and Northeast Nigeria. Concentrating on
ritual as the core of traditional religion, van Beek shows how
Kapsiki/Higi practices have endured through the long and turbulent
history of the region. Kapsiki rituals reveal a focus on two
fundamental concepts: dwelling and belonging. Van Beek examines
their sacrificial practices, through which the Kapsiki show a
complex and pervasive connection with the Mandara Mountains, as
well as the character of their relationships among themselves and
with outsiders. Van Beek also explores their rituals of belonging,
rites of passage which take place from birth through initiation and
marriage - and even death, with the tradition of the ''dancing
dead,'' when a fully decorated corpse on the shoulders of a smith
''dances'' with his mourning kinsmen. The Dancing Dead is the
result of the author's lifelong study of the Kapsiki/Higi. It gives
a unique description of the rituals in an African traditional
religion based not upon ancestors, but on a completely relational
thought system, where in the end all rituals are integrated into
one major cycle.
Throughout Africa one craft among many stands out: that of the
blacksmith. In many African cultures, smiths occupy a significant
position, not just as artisans engaging in a difficult craft but
also as special people. Often they perform other crafts, as well,
and make up a somewhat separate group inside society. The Forge and
the Funeral describes the position of the smith in the culture of
the Kapsiki/Higi of northern Cameroon and northeastern Nigeria.
Situated in the Mandara Mountains and straddling the border of
these two countries, Kapsiki culture forms a specific and highly
relevant example of the phenomenon of the smith in Africa. As an
endogamous group of about 5 per cent of the population, Kapsiki
smiths perform an impressive array of crafts and specializations,
combining magico-religious functions with metalwork, in particular
as funeral directors, as well as with music and healing. The Forge
and the Funeral gives an intimate description and analysis of this
group, based upon the author's four decades-long involvement with
the Kapsiki/Higi. Description and analysis are set within the more
general scholarly debates about the dynamics of professional
closure - including the notions of caste and guild-and also
consider the deep history of iron and brass in Africa.
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Paperback
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R398
R330
Discovery Miles 3 300
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