Dinka Initiation Scarification: What a Boy Goes Through to Become a Man
Dinka initiation scarification marks a boy’s step into manhood. Learn what the cuts mean, who gives them and how the tradition is changing.
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Bafo Sculpture: A Cameroonian Tradition Identified by a Single Gesture
New: the 2nd edition of Within Carved Lines: The Secret Meanings of African Masks is out now. Get the book → Many peoples documented in this book left behind a rich, well-recorded body of art. The Bafo, who live in western Cameroon, left behind something narrower but still unmistakable: a specific carved gesture, both hands…
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Cameroon Grassland Art: Ninety Kingdoms, One Common Ancestor, and a King Who Could Become an Elephant
New: the 2nd edition of Within Carved Lines: The Secret Meanings of African Masks is out now. Get the book → Most entries in this book follow a single named people. The Grassland of western Cameroon asks for a wider lens: the savannas here are home to three ethnic groups with ancestors in common, the…
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Nyamwezi Art: Divination Figures That Became a Dance Troupe’s Stage Props
New: the 2nd edition of Within Carved Lines: The Secret Meanings of African Masks is out now. Get the book → Several traditions documented in this book show a ritual object losing its original function over time yet staying in circulation, repurposed for a new audience. The Nyamwezi, the largest ethnic agrarian group in north-central…
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Anang Masks: The Grotesque and the Beautiful, Staged by the Same Ancestral Society
New: the 2nd edition of Within Carved Lines: The Secret Meanings of African Masks is out now. Get the book → Several traditions documented in this book are known for a single mask genre with a single mood. The Anang, who inhabit the Nigerian province of Calabar to the south of the Cross River, are…
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Fanti Asafo Flags: The Ghanaian Art Tradition Built Without a Single Mask
New: the 2nd edition of Within Carved Lines: The Secret Meanings of African Masks is out now. Get the book → Nearly every tradition documented in this book channels its art through a mask worn in performance. The Fanti, an Akan people living along Ghana’s Gulf of Guinea coast and adjacent inland areas, are one…
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Gurunsi Masks: Seven Peoples United Under a Name Their Rivals Gave Them
New: the 2nd edition of Within Carved Lines: The Secret Meanings of African Masks is out now. Get the book → Most tribal names documented in this book come from within: a people’s own word for itself. Gurunsi is different. It is a collective term covering the Gurensi, Kasena, Lyele, Nuna, Nunuma, Sisala, and Winiama,…
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Tuareg Ehel: The Carved Furniture That Marked You as Upper Class in the Sahara
New: the 2nd edition of Within Carved Lines: The Secret Meanings of African Masks is out now. Get the book → Several traditions documented in this book use a mask or a costume to mark status or identity. The Tuareg, a tribal people of the Sahara numbering more than 300,000 across Algeria, Tunisia, Mali, Libya,…
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Maasai Art Without Artists: Why Everyone Carves Their Own Walking Cane
New: the 2nd edition of Within Carved Lines: The Secret Meanings of African Masks is out now. Get the book → Nearly every tradition documented in this book relies on a dedicated maker: a guild of blacksmiths, a lineage of carvers, a workshop tied to a royal court. The Maasai, 350,000 nomadic herdsmen living mainly…
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Igbo Kola Nut Ceremony: Who Breaks the Oji and What It Means
The Igbo kola nut ceremony opens every serious gathering. Learn who breaks the oji, what the prayer says, and the rules guests follow.
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Malinke Suruku Masks: The Hyena Face Borrowed From a Neighbor’s Power Association
New: the 2nd edition of Within Carved Lines: The Secret Meanings of African Masks is out now. Get the book → Several traditions documented in this book grew their initiation systems from within, inventing the society and the mask that represents it together. The Malinke, named for their historical links to the empire of Mali…
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Ife Bronze Heads: The Art So Famous It Named Itself, Outliving the People Who Made It
New: the 2nd edition of Within Carved Lines: The Secret Meanings of African Masks is out now. Get the book → Several traditions documented in this book are known by the name of the people who still practice them. Ife is known instead by the name of a place, a ritual center in southwestern Nigeria…
