African Masks and Masquerades Part Two: A Batch from African Arts

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In short, African masks are material and conceptual thresholds between self and other, this world and another, current events and what one may make of them. Masquerade often dramatizes paradoxes of ontological, biological, and social differing as defined from one culture to the next; and while masked performances may be inventive, spontaneously playful, and sometimes hilarious, they can also be moving to the point of transcendence. Indeed, the in-between of a mask can provoke reflection, promote healing, threaten revolution, and put life itself into perspective.

This Batch on African masks and masquerade is divided into two parts. In the first, eight articles drawn from the pages of the journal African Arts will present masks as cultural systems followed by classical studies updated by more recent research. The second part of this Batch offers ten papers on women and masquerade, masquerade as spectacle, forms and styles of masks, and questions for future research.

- Allen F. Roberts, Introduction

About BATCHES

The BATCHES Series from the MIT Press features collections of journal articles on themes identified by and currently resonating with readers. The collections are curated by authoritative voices in the field: editors, authors, scholars, and practitioners. Each Batch is bundled for immediate download, and the series represents the rapid, responsive innovation that the MIT Press provides to its readership.

Contents:

Introduction
Allen F. Roberts

Cosmos, Cosmetics, and the Spirit of Bondo
Frederick Lamp

Gelede Masquerade: Imagery and Motif
Henry John Drewal

Elephant Women, Furious and Majestic
Sidney Kasfir

The Igbo Ijele Mask
Chike Aniakor

Isinyago and Midimu: Masked Dancers of Tanzania and Mozambique
J.A.R. Wembah-Rashid

Carnaval Masquerades in Guinea-Bissau
Doran H. Ros

The Spread of Mask Styles in the Black Volta Basin
Christopher D. Roy

Luluwa Masks
Constantine Petridis

Is There History in Horizontal Masks?
Patrick McNaughton

Invention and Reinvention in the Traditional Arts
Z.S. Strother