African Art 2 Flashcards
Artwork Image
Medieval Sudan
Tellum: ambiguous male-female figures that can represent the Nommo twins narrow and elongated (elongated bodies look like crash box; raised arms)
Tellum-Dogon: also elongated ambiguous figures (has a mr.popo face)
Dogon: figures look more abstract as well as animals
Bamana- had masks that contained horns (4-8 female 3-6 males 2,5,7 androgyny)
Willie Cole- bicycle version of Chiwara headdresses
Jenne Terracottas- have little abstract elements, but the figures look like they’re depressed holding on to their knees (women) also look like crash box with long faces; a figure is always holding a body part
Nok Ceramics- looks intimidating with large strange triangular eyes (slick looks asian in the face)
Great Mosque of Djenne
- largest adobe structure and mosque in the world
- built in the 13th century by King Kumburu
- present structure was reconstructed during the french colonization in 1906
- sits on a raised platform w/ entrance stairs
- has engaged pillars in sets of 5
- 3 hollow towers/minarets on the east facade
- exterior has projecting timbers
- each tower pinnacle has a ostrich egg
- the quibla wall faces east towards Mecca central tower
- mihrab/niche imbedded in the quibla wall orients worshippers towards mecca
- Every May they have a annual festival of plastering to restore the mosque
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Dogon Mask
Two Facts for each
1. Great Mask (mother of mask)- commemorates the death of the 1st ancestor; carried like an altar presented once every 60yrs in the Siqui festival
2. Kanaga Mask- may represent a crocodile, bird, earth-sky, or human figured w/ raised arms; danced at funeral on the 3rd day after death when the spirit leaves the body
3. Sirige Mask- symbol of wealth; placed on dancer’s head and tied to the waist w/ strips of cloth; dancer bites on a grip inside the headpiece
4. Satimbe Mask- represents the woman who first posessed the secret knowledge of mask making
5. Fulani Woman Mask- represent fulani as foriegners in Dogon culture; cowrie shells represent the lighter skin tones of fulani women
Komo Association
- term used today by scholars for such an influential group is power association
- consist of priests, elders, healers, and blacksmiths
- leaders who specialise in studying the natural world
- their shrine is a power object/altar called a boli
- leaders harness knowledge to address everyday concerns in the community
Chi Wara Association
- means farming beast
- petitions the headdress-mask for use in rituals related to fertility of the land
- the headdresses are danced in male-female pairs
- the society is an educational organization that teaches boys farming skills and social values
- the sculpture is the mythical antelope-ancestor of the Bamana
Bogolifini Cloth
- handmade cloth made by several ethnic groups in Mali
- the tradition dates to the 11th century
- Bamana women and other ethnicities made the cloth for important life events
- it is believed to be imbued w/ the protective powers and life force of women
- believed that the cloth can absorb evil
Bilad el Sudan
Arabic for land of the blacks
Soninke
they founded Ghana which is their word for king
Sundiata Kieta
a 13th century hero who is the founder of the Mali Empire; mentioned in the Epic of Sundiata from the mandinka people from an oral tradition
Griot
poets; also called djeli
Mansa Musa
a ruler from the mali empire; 1324 made a pilgrimage/hajj to Mecca; wealthiest man in history
Timbuktu
Mansa Musa brought islamic schoalr from egypt to settle here; contains the largest library the contain over 700k manuscripts
Ibn Battuta
berber scholar, visited the sultan of mali in 1352; arrived in Mali when it was the largest imperial system of its day, after the mongol empire in asia
Sunni Ali
builds the last and largest of the medieval empire in the sudan; part of the songhai empire who were great warriors and traders
Hausa
a kingdom 7 states from northern Nigeria; linked to the trans-sahara trade; obtained arabian horses; introduced to Islam by the Muslim fulani pastoralists in the 15th century
Kano
One of the 11th century Hausa states
Usman Dan Fodio
Fulani tribal leader, scholar and reformer that led the jihad in the 19th century ersulting in the Sokoto Caliphate
Bandiagara Cliffs
region that’s 125 miles long in Dogon
Marcel Griaule
one of the first europeans (french anthropologist) to study Dogon
The Hogun
chief priest in charge of all religious and agrarian rituals that guarantee future crops to ensure the perpetuation of people
Nommo Twins
eight bisexual ancestors of the Dogon
Binu Spirits
nature spirits
Lebe
a dogon priest that tried to warn men about the power of the masks; depicted as a python (ressurection symbol)
Toguna
togu/shelter; house of words
Bamana/Bambara
Mande ethnic group; means believer which was acquired due to their resistance to islam; farming communities
Kulubali
founded the Segou Kingdom by forming hunting and youth fraternities
Futa Toro
a muslim cleric who conquered the Segou Kingdom in a jihad
Tons
youth fraternities
Faro
a water spirit according to the Ntomo association
Paul Guillaume
first collector to exhibit African Art; published images of Chiwara headdresses in Sculpture Negres, 1917
Jenne
Susan and Roderick McIntosh
conducted the 1st excavation in Jenne,Mali
Jos Plateau
1928 during tin mining
Bernard and Angela Fagg
identified the Nok culture w/ central Nigerian groups in 1943
Bird Man
250 AD mythological figure; placed on upside down pot
Fulani
possibly muslim but they’re nomadic pastoralists
Babba Riga/Great Robe
8th century/700 AD- that is a type of fashion designed for males associated w/ muslim culture and islam
11th century- became the most visible sign of muslim identity in northern nigeria; tailored garment construction in west africa
8 knives magic and square knots triangles
South Sudan
On 7/9/2011 it this became Africa’s newest country following decades of civil war; becoming the world’s newest nation
Ginna House
House of a lineage leader
