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V r.lL-- .,.;-i :,
EFFICACY AND OBJE CTS
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fllj BY KRrS L. HARDrN AND MARY JO ARNOLDI
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~ Ill - In 191] a young Luo woman decides 10 wedr a n«n!Jll at the urging o(
~ foreign missionaries (Hay, below).
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Shortly a[ter a 1935 exhibit, a Musee de Trocadero employee relegates

a Barnum throne to -the African storage area. whe-re it sits in disarray
until the 1980s (Geary, below) . -
~
~
~ ~-8 I WhenaSomali nomad settles outside of lsiolo. his wives leave a life
~
·--~~ • r··
I ~~· ';;. I
of continuous movement through space and reassemble their houses in
his compound. His mother commissions a carpenter to build herhouse
nearby (Prussin, below).
Each of these vignettes involves choices. Some are relativelv com•
monplace and everyday. others appear ~umental. Each situati~n also
implicates the use of objects in some way and when explored fully
~ draws attention to the complex ways in which humans shape the mate·
~
( ri~ld as they are simultaneously shaped by that world. We contend
that the production and use of objects have the capacity 10 transform
situations as well as people. This capacity is not inherent in material
form per se, but is m~ed by or realized through human agency. 1
.,,, 1i :''§'"'\ Objects are one means, then, by which humans shape their world. and
,;.J iJ
'. le (:i
their actions have both intended and unintended consequences.
~" ,ii.Y
: ',~ ~1.~
1~5
-~
S,
The essays in this volume explore African macerial culture and the
8 ~ V. "( process of shaping or fashioning from a number of different perspec-
~ Jl ci tives. Most contributions share the emphasis on the constructive aspects
~ f; ~
- ,.,< of material culture. This emphasis places these essays at the forefront of
recent developments in social theory that focus on the importance of
agency and practice in the construction and reconstruction of social and
cultural forms.'The work collected here reflects two particular historical
moments in the study of material culture. First. it dearly demonstrates
that the classic dichoto1ny bet.ween •form"-based and ·context"-based :k
analyses needs 10 be rethought. While scholars have tended to perc~ive
this di~hotomy as a difference between art historical and anthropolog1cal
analyses, these essays show ways that anthropologists have dealt with
form, art historians have dealt with context, and other scholars have
used both to great advantage. Thus they suggest ways of bridging disci-
 Introduction ,0, 3
. d Mt1IY Jo .41110/di
. L Ht1rdlll 1111
- 2 ~ 1(11~ . di •'tJllt1ary boundaries British Museu m. . .. H, one hundred years hence, English anthro-
. that set pologists have to go to Germany to study the remains of those who
even suggrstt111! frcint an era that rccog -
. per 1a1l ·s
I c111ergc d frI· were once our subject races, we shall owe !his humiliation 10 the
ina rr t,oundanrs, d hcsc essays , ttng Africa an A
rl •fi • 1 sc<'Otl , I r reprcse 11 _ - - -- supineness of England at the end of the nineteen1h and early twen-
re largely artt <,a . h ch •11ging modes o . - o-bJ'ccts have
- - been a p- tieth century. (quoted in Mack 1991 :28)
a rhe i~ uen ee t eat had ; thC: i:vays African~
nized
p
. - - ciice is an underlying
-· ~-
~ . ~!~h west larly
I,av_ srudY - .1c s.uch 111I0·su volume tries to illuml-
- 0-- w111 What these and other studies make clear is that many of our percep-
1
E!£8~·hed~ in sc 10 -
~st intelleclllal pon dcru
d gs, ways
t 11 they shift and change tions of other societies have been shaped by the interests of those who
assumpnon . definitions an tI1e - - collected or wrote about material culture and that the shaping of per-
nate 1ocal careiiones and Af'can or European.
in~ er they are n d ,rescntation has demonstrated, ception is always tied to relations of power. Only as analyses of repre•
ove r , ums an rei .
As 're«"' research on mus~ b' cts to construct ideas and images sentation and social history become more sophisticated, as more cre-
outsiders have long used Afncanholjers has revealed that the politics of dence is given to local categories, definitions, and patterns of use (in all
of Africa.l work bYnumerous . sc b'ects
o a ofte!has more to do with the their variety), and as more African scholars enter into the debates and
defining. or represenung · Afncan otoj reIJresen than it does with . under- dialogues about African material culture, will the power of outsiders to
interests or thOse with the power -d In other- words, defimt10ns .. .
of African dominate representations of Africa and Africans be curtailed.3
s1andu1g . hose being represente. Africa •and Africans, have often been tied to Early European and American definitions of Africa were forged, for
I
. cts· and
!e . by extension • and intellectual interests of non-A fncans . . s1g-
m . the most part, in contexts related to trade and colonialism. The role
0b
he poliucal, economic,
M h of the history of African material . cu 1ture studies . played by African objects in these constructions has been discussed in
1
nificant ways. uc
• d through .
the Jens of national mterests, • and
economics, numerous places (see, for example, Gerbrands 1990, Newton 1978, Pau-
must .be VJewe •fi and theoretical concerns of the day. This . comp1ex provided . drat I 984, Price 1989, Stocking 1985). Suffice it to say that as European
~m~C . . interests changed, so did the ways African objects were viewed, col-
much of the rationale for researc~ _collection, and display by defimng
l'°"<. which articles ;-ould be collect~d as well as h~ they ~ould be seen. lected, and used. In early European contact, African objects served as
(),"J1 ..... resuh was a particular shaping or construct10n of Africa, but always thefocus of "miisings and fantasies about the world beyond European
,\(11 JI'- we shores. By the late nineteenth century, African objects, particularly
~ in European terms.
several recent studies have documented the relationship between those with ornamented surfaces, were assigned a role in the construc-
changing interests in material culture and changing ideas or conceptions tion and application of theories such as evolutionism 4 and. in German-
of Africa or other non-Euro-American settings. Nicholas Thomas corre- speaking scholarly circles, diffusionism (Gerbrands 1990:15 ). In addition
lateS the changing nature of collecting in Fiji with the changing interests to providing an empirical base for evolutionary theory, the interpreta-
• of early settlers and later colonial administrators. While early settlers tion of African objects as less developed than European counterparts
~~k~,1r collected ob'ects that si nified cannibalism and savager as a mean'sof helped rationalize European expansion into Africa (Gerbrands 1990,
~ justifying their "civilizing" presence, later colonial interests turned to a Newton 1978, Paudrat 1984, Stocking 1985). In essence, the display of
11/v0~ more ethnographic approach through which administrators were able to objects from colonized lands supported three intersecting justifications
~~ i· categorize Fijians by the kinds of objects they produced. In this way they for settlement and colonization: commerce, civilization, and Chris-
{ ! ~ were able to •construct and rigidify 'Fijian society' as a totality to be tianity. 5
a~ed upon• (Thomas 1989:41). In a slightly different vein John Mack In reference to other uses of African objects in the colonial period,
discusses how Emil Torday's ethnographic and collecting interests in Adrian Gerbrands describes the ways that discontent within Europe in
~e~tral Africa were shaped by A. C. Haddon's work on design and evo- the early twentieth century led to viewing non-European lifestyles and
;;:n:: theory _(~ck 1991:19). He also documents the ways in which the objects associated with them as rep~ ~tiv_~~-a more natural way ~
pea/colo:~ect: m general ~as stimulated by rivalry between Euro- of life (Gerbrands 1990) . In this way, exotic images of Africa became
ai<l!i.d of subversive commentary on European norms. Strains of this
1906, P ers. Mack cites Northcote Thomas, who wrote, in
romanticizing and exoticizing of African life are still prevalent today.
Slightly earlier, the appropriation of African forms at the tum of the
In twenty-five years the Berlin Museum has accumulated ethno- century by a small cadre of German and French avant garde artists fos-
graphicai collections more than ten times as large as those of the tered an artistic revolution in European fine art (Goldwater 1938, Rubin
l 'I
ll_
 J(J Al'lll,li/i
.
,w·"'''" ,,d M"'
Y
,c, 7(1i! L, ,i,nc the se art Isis also
l 4 ~i, t1lC
. ,,.., 11tc ·'w1tllc dco '
lcrs In cth. n ogr .
<.:t
e. Introductio n ~ S
r- --\"'~ i.rands I 9901 apJ,1c
, 1ijcL 'IS·
· u..~
ilo~-"'1, •' .~4- ~cc ft1~,, (jeft • i1-fti,:~1 ..0 ·- late I,i,,etcenth century by Slt
,a~ ._J a or~'-n
..1.-,•t f~,r--;
n,a," ~·- ·n :;1)11r;111c ill thC 1·111 a wlt0le ran ge or African
rs w
ll· Harold Oshorn e, a note d theorist
cisel y what haq 1haped the form
in aesthetics, that this app roac h is pre-
~tr" __ d 01,risi,cd l . tc collc ctn e111erged wh o llou ght and so\d alistic theories of art that hav
·i,1·"1s i,a n1s at'' d 1,0 va - - deal ,ow fl nated th e Wcq t for the last ftlty to one hundred years. Given this sim
e dom i·
o ,scll 1
1 ers t oted 1he n1 as ne arts
nlii"~ n11 --;iill!!nJtP I of1,111a d
res an prol. ll (Paudrat 198
With 1'
n
starting point, it is not surprisin
g that an overwhelming
ilar
oliJ~' 3 sn emp
,. . •c 4) and has is
d o<t'an1 5cndern I • , , the seect fo rm has crep t into on
ist acs11te t1CAfr1·can ob1e . both anth ropo logi cal and art historical investigatio
. n 3n
,.rnca ...r~I()~ of a •n10
cts -m alnl y rnasks (Be n-Amos 1989:33 ; see also Osb ns
d finition of s~,1cct to fine art wer orne 1970:50
d,6 - s
i,r rra,.. e ).
t '-e c11entu al re cres-fror ar11fact
pla nte In discussing the relative importa
nce of ethn
for 1,, n ct images of Afnca. d' tory mu seums, Iva n Karp suggest ogr aph ic and art or his-
e~sculptll
. , id not enct
~ rauv n obi·ects to constru,·n the ways s several additional
d fi ~ 11 =---c,.rnca1
anf!1t Aln.can obJ.ects hav played into the continu ing imp elem ents that have
use o . riod · A rna1. factor or . ortance of aesthete and form
"'~t'111ie co\onta 1re d Afri cans
can be trac ed to the early twene proa ches to African mat erial cult
ure. Pir5t, he: writes that
al ap-
d fine Afri ca an ~ h , - - graphic mu seums have fare d bec aus e ethn o-
1'!'tn uscu --~ 10 e
lit belween ethno rb ands ( l 990 ·
i e and aes thetic approa ches to• relatively badly financially in
--~ .....nturY ~ ) , Sm ee l · W_9rld "!'~r l(_p_eriod -~ hen art thepITTt-
n t lYdiscusSed bY t 1at lim e eth ~nd his«>ry _ius~i._~s h~ e
ti~ . Gerltur r
e have tended to emphasize' con· fl!_l.!!_!~h. ethnographic museum tend ed to
,. fnc· an art '"'~ proaches tornatenal cu ·1hin a soc· . s exist in rela tive pov erty toda
iety, wh'lI e t h e aesthet1'c result, their exhibition styles hav y. As a
nologicald ap the meaning '
o{_objeCtS Wl rned with the study and appreci of their wealthierc ounterparts
e: been unable to kee p pac e with thos e
te,.'I anch ation . The inability to change and
has been pn·manly .conce(Gerbrands ~, ..Q !! ~gularly makes the upd ate exh i-
approa .. es of 1990) an d t he contempla- conten t of ethnogr aph ic
form al qua11u obie cts pear less important than that in mu seu ms ap-
o the . k (Ben-Amos 1989). Extrem art or hist ory mu seum s (Ka
.f n of thing s for their own'dsa of e
this divide, wit .
e positions see also Haraway 1984-85). Sec i:p 199 1:379;
uo h some early scholars ond. Karp suggests that th{\pre
'-•ve t,een taken both s1 es on . tenc e . . of universal aesthetics) hat und sentation
of art or aes thetics m Africa aii(i erlies formal app roaches to obje
refusing to recogn ize the
110
. . hat ex1s . played in art settings is more in cts dis-
1cnowin_gJh e me ani ng ~ tune with the pub lic's
some aest hetes da1mm t h'ndered of a scu lpture in the enterprise of presenting inte rest s than is
· · al cont 11 1
one's aest h ettc . apprec1. .
at1on of
cultural specifici ty (Ka rp 199 1:37 9). ln
its ongt n ext
. actufa Ysons the --~ the other words, if formalism and
aes~thetes h ave ten de d - to - d-ominat universal categories are wha t the public
o!)iCll· For a vari..,., ety o rea
It re stud'ies in e wants, exhibitions and , more
importantly. research
..... ft Afri ca for mu ch of this direction. The power implication also mov e in this
un. eJd .of mated114' F cuch-s u peak . em
century in s of this stance are obv ious
th ing realms. The basic phasis . a continued emphasis on outside and lead to
e Eng .. lish· an b' ct ren implicitly stresses Western eht. e
on form al r knowledge and definitions at
qualiuesofoie s categon. es and lead s pense of understanding African
cultural realities.
the ex-
derstanding ol - objects, thei•
away from an u n r use, or t h eir · a 11,recia-
tion While all of these factors are imp
. •fie tenns At the same time, emphas . . ortant and must serve as partial
~1 ure 1 -s@ 1zmg formal qualities planations for the continuing ex-
ctS a series of idea ·s importance of form al app roac hes
and expectations for Afr ica can material culture, there are to Afri -
:::n tin ues the nineteenth-centu and Afr ican s and several additio nal poin
ry tradition of defining others considered that illustrate the ts tha t mus t be
in ways that African obje cts con tinu
outsider's terms, but in slightly new used in the construction e to be
way s. of defi nitions of Africa rather than as
The reasons for the domination for understanding African mat vehicles
of formal approaches in stud erial experience in new
material culture are multiple and ies of to d,9 with exhibition strategies way s. The se hav e
complex . Sim on Ott enb erg sug that have increasingly emp
that the enormous difficulties of field gest s can ~bjects as an:)changing inte has ized Afri -
work make understanding ano rests in anthropology after abo
culture's aesthetic expressions on ther and the timing of the entry of ut 193 0;
their own terms extremely African objects into the art mar
(Ottenberg 1971). Paula Ben-Amos difficult large scale, especially during the ket on a
(Girshick) attributes the dom late 19 ~ and 19 ~. While mos
of formal approaches in pan to the inat ion arts museums began actively coll t fine
fact that early scholars in anth ecting African obje cts only in the
~y, such as Franz Boas, Melville rop ol· World War 11 period, this was pos t-
Herskovits, and Wa rre n d' Aze preceded by a seri es of exh ibit
approach vedo, laid the groundwork for view ions that
. an from the v1ew · pom • t of aesthetic exp ing African objects a ~ 8
As
templa uons erience tha t is con· this flurry ol" exhibitions of Afr a resu lt of
that this b .of thin
• gs for their • own sake and the hei ght ene ' d ' ums in the United States began
ican materials as art, ethn ogr aph ic muse-
nngs (Ben-Amos 1989:33). She awarene ss to reevaluate their coll
goes on .to suggest, citing hibits and give more prominenc ecti ons and ex-
e to non-Western sculptures in
their dis-
 . f{ardill a11d
,.w'Y Jo Arna/di .-
f(11S L, Jntroductlon ,1J, 7
,o, i·tutions this resulted In b
6 •c 111s 1 0th
hnograP111 f ·can objects by Installing lndl
;ly Cl •• n Air~ h' h . object in formal term,. In this vein, collection, connoisseurship, and re•
rin1a1 ,hetic11.1n~F·e-'lAd M
Muussteum, w 1c began
son,e P d aes • ago 1 9 to gional studies were the primary driving forces behind not just African
plal~· tn )izi an at the C111c (Newton 1978:46). After 1954
dC('Onte~rua Jil-C ,i,ose •s as ar1worksd departments of "Primitive A. ' material culture studies, but most material culture research until about
cases, 1p1urc bl' ]le rt• 1970 (Schlereth 1985, Ames 1985). We will return to this point in a
,~dua1' African scu uscun1s esta iscollections or augment thei~·tin moment.
drsrl1l fine arts 111. Iy 10 make western sculpture. In 964 hg
,era1 re acuve er non· . . . e As anthropology was losing its interest in material culture, museum
st1 .....,an .,,o . n and ot I1 d d as a small private mst1tut1on . activities in the field of African art and a growing interest in African
and i,._~ f ,\Inca foun e f tn
' . nections o rican A.rt was . nection became part o the Smithson. sculptural forms by collectors and dealers combined in ways that led to
p0 ,,<;v" ·~useum of ADf C In l 979 this co n1e the National Museum of African the ~emergence of African art as a field of study within art history. 10 )
"' >"1 ''
-:,r·.i' washingto n · · in I9Sl it t,eca
.' nd h i'dea that some Af ncan · ·
obJects had Equally important, growing academic, museological, and popular inter-
, r) ia" 1ns11t•uuon
•;,A a
f rther credence to t et·ve-world of Euro-American art ests in Africa and African art can be tied to much larger political events
r ,, ..,.q •vinS u nd Ju era • . that also emphasized the importance of fonn. Particularly relevant was
11
Art. gt com""titive--8 ·ngly defined in formal terms as art
d the r ·ncreas1 ,
entert' . objects were 1 . . ht have been the natural home f the end of the colonial period. From 1957 onward African nations de-
As Afncan which rm . . or
of anthro~Iogy, . 1 x erience, was becommg l~ss Interested clared their independence from colonial powers. The establishment of
" the fi eId ~atena e =---- · -I h 1 d - newly independent African nations fostered a new awareness of Africa.
I . , iJ1ves1igatin8 Afncan the 1930S the institunona o~e an of anthro.
~ ·· f. 1
n,aterial culture- By th museum to the academy m much of Europe
On the American scene specifically, the Civil Rights and Black Con- ,.,,..
sciousness movements in the late 1950s and 1960s created an arena in
t-•r';.t t p o i ~ from_ e paradigms, with their focus on objects
~. . evoluuonary . h , which African Americans began looking toward Africa for symbols,
-~~~.'J and Amenca as nology were replaced by mterests t at were more
themes, and other tools in the construction of African American iden-
~J{ ff decoration, and tech. ;erial form (Schlereth 1985). As a result, in
tity. In this atmosphere there is no question that defining African objects
r r. h
r.r· difficu It to illustrate m ma ki g countries .
interest • matena
m · 1 culture was
in formal terms as "high an• made new and important statements about -
Englts· b· and French-spea
d d b thenstudy of nonmatenal . aspects of culture and
the cultural heritage of African Americans at a time when African
gra~uall=:e:thr:pology, however, maintained the focus on mate- American claims to identity, and, more importantly, to capabilities, were
soaetY• d thisdaY German colleagues have been very active in being negotiated and contested on all sides. Even this process, however,
rial culture, an to
demonstrates another example of the complex ways in which African
this field. . . . f
It is also important to point out that whi 1e a mmonty o French- and objects continue to be used by outsiders to define Africa in ways related
English-speaking ethnographers working in Africa after the 1930s con• more to subjective interests than to knowledge of Africa per se.
tinued to observe and write about material culture, its study came to be Within a milieu that increasingly defined African sculpture as art, that
seen as an initiaJ research strategy for gaining entree into other, more saw markets for African objects expand dramatically, and that celebrated
esoteric and nonmateriaJ aspects of social and cultural life rather than the political consequences of admitting an •African aesthetic• into the
as an end in itself. In a recent reminiscence, Warren d' Azevedo notes discourse of art history, some scholars continued to explore the context
that while he was first intrigued by anthropology's "latent yet frequently and use of African objects in ways distinctively different from the pre-
manifest theme of human inventiveness and intractable creativity, ... dominant emphasis on form. Quoting again from d' Azevedo:
=t
the historical moment of anthropology in the 1950s turned out to be
ltss than congenial to special orientations perceived to be humanistic in
1031
t~ne. The emphasis was on a standard ethnological format
. e unruonaJ analysis of crucial institutions" (d' Azevedo 1991: 102-

Almost two years of immersion in the energy of an African society

ln this mill'eu, studies of
unim!IOnant role Ma . art or material culture played a relatively l
have also tended. f~;ial culture studies in general (outside of Africa) :
10 0
chotomy by also foe . ow th e way of the aesthetes in Gerbrands's di· II
usmg, until th e Iast twenty years, on studying Ihe
~ i
had highlighted the absurdity of a concept of art that focused anen-
tion on the material objects of artistry and implied a distinction be-
tween • arts and crafts• and •primitive and civilized." I felt that I had
witnessed the omnipresent expression of artistry in a wide range of
individual behaviors in another culture ... . Art could not be con-
fined to artifacts or things. but resided in the thinking, feeling, and
productive activities of the members of a culture. (d'Azevedo
1991:103)
J
 ,,11 ,y Jo Amu,w
. . "''d ,..
1//!t'd,,,
l(flS i.
8 ,c, . 'thilt 111any of the African so I Introduct ion ~ 9
I as1zc
t!l cn1P 1 · t· ]l,.wc a category of an tLc. ,,,
rs ('(Jt111.1,ncd,search lrd 1
f\O l'
. ir example, c Azevedo 197llut from in ethnic or regional te rm~. Such riuestions tend to reproduce the
·hOI~ did re- (see, 11
o11irr s•h. ·h ,11cY catcg1irieS wa rren and Andre.ws 1977) A.I.3 now heavi ly criticized notion that th-ere is a on~--to-one relationship be-
· w 11 1
r1ies .'" d '"ilh wcs1cn·def 1971. a11d approach matena · I
culture, a
· • tween culture and style, and to re-create already accepted defi nitions of
roi11•1dr 1964, sch11e11ars continUC~ t·o·ons and criteria, because of tlrt, particular styles and° ethnic boundaries, even where these have been
rri~n1 1sch!l I dehntll
MC h ~ orouP O frot11 1oca t history and anthropolouy O tL
ie shown to be inaccurate >Arnoldi 1986, Frank I987, Kasfir 1984, and
1iot1R • r cultllre . both ar 11e others) . The emphasis on ~uthenticity,' particularly in studies of the arts,
' d e~prcssive . on fort11 ,n et to be evaluated.
an ,phas1s k haS Y , , , and romantic perceptions ofthe unvarying •traditions· of precolonial
,w rriditl~ en
C I rrn1c h of this wor
of tI1c
changing interests 111 African "'
, , . , .. a. African cultures have resu lted in research agendas that explore tradition
full import o ·1y bric! history I shift from v1ewmg Afncan obi'ect
cessan that t 1e - , - -· -·- ~ S and the retention and continuity of a finite set of forms in preference to
This nc . ,udies suggests which began ,n the e2~ly . twentieth examination~ of heterogeneity, innovation. interregional flows, and the
1ena. 1cu1tures ,, viewing~ h , as art,
ences for -
the d'irecllon . ...,.._
which th mechanics of change. 1}
~ ifa<tS h t~had importan rtant c~se u
tudies has taken, -as well as for tL e ---=-- If the market for African objects had remained stable (restricted to
rt ry as . u1ture s 11e
,,1-,~,.1 ccn 10 ,·African ma1ena 1 c h e been used in the search for defint' sculpture) throughout the last twenty years, it might have been possible
, field o . objects av .
~, ,.,_,.,
1 r ).
. which African decades have matenal culture stud • to distinguish two strains of research on African material culture-one
wars ,n , the last tw O
A').. 11 , . sol Africa. only 111 d he'1r primary focus to a concern With the· that was applied to sculptural form and focused on issues relevant to
110n , shifte t
j, ·es outside of Afnca o·eties that produce or use them.11 More the study of art, and another that considered more mundane objects in
o-\~ vi/ ,
relationship ol Ob' cts to the so
JC . lture have begun to look at the construe terms of context and use. The changing nature of the market for African
-;. of matena1cu . . ·
~e1r i ! recently, scho1ars . . ther words, at the situated ways m which art, however, has made such distinctions impossible. In addition to rede-
I c,?.
"½
i.... ,,-,a.L
1ive potentta
.
. l of obJects, JO o
.
e obiects 111 t
. he construction of I'dentity, . socia . I formations fining African masks and sculpture as art, the a ~ e t has constantly
\,;, indiv1dua1s ~s see for example, Ames 1980, Barber 1987, Karp and, expanded by incorporating new classes of African objects into the cate-
and culture itself ( , d w ·1r I 97 8) gory of art. Since masks and figurative sculptures are less available in
. 1991 Leone !977, an t is . the late twentieth century, art dealers have now begun to promote tex-
Lavine . ' h' h material culture studies in general began the shift
The point at w 1c . . b . tiles, c~ics, weapons, and other objects which have been legitimized
ssing views of the relat1onsh1p etween obiects and
10 more encompa . at wh1c , h American · as artworks by virtue of art historical studies and related exhibitions. It
recisely the point and Euro.
cultures, h oweve r Was P
, . . is not difficult to correlate the appearance of scholarship on new classes
began incorporating Afncan obiects on a large scale
pean an markets . . . · of objects, either in published or exhibition form. with the incorporation
As the si7.e of the market and the value of certain kmds of Afncan ob- of those particular objects into the an market.
jects, notably masks and other sculptures, rose dramatically in the late While the ways in which formal approaches to material culture have
1960s and early 1970s, it grew increasingly difficult to direct the focus tended to obscure context-based approaches are complex and require a
ol African material culture research away from connoisseurship or re• much fuller analysis. this brief outline sets forth a framework for ap-
gional and stylistic studies to a more contemporary focus on the role of proaching the essays in this volume. The focus on the dialectical rela-
objects in the construction of culture and on the ideational frameworks tionship b~en agency and structure shared by some of the work
within which objects are produced and used. Thus, the early emphasis brings with it a departure from these older paradigms. Because the dia- ~
on connoisseurship in material culture studies has, to a large degree, lectic between agency and structure can be explored only in conjunction
remained a major, if not dominant, perspective in the study of African with considerations of power, issues of power are also critical to the
<>_biects, while this strain of research has become less important in mate· essays in this volume. 14 Following.- illiam Arens and Ivan Karp's recent
rial cult~re research in other world regions. Formal studies of African discussion ol' power, we tak power s the ability n9t only to dominate,
an continue to obsc
~ ha . d ure h 1 but also to constrain or enab · n, thought. and imagination in cul-
t e mportance of early work in Africa that em·
Jl- .stze Iocal defin't' ture-specific or situated ways (Arens and Karp 1989), and, in doing so.
of re<rio_na_li " I Jons, ag~cy, power, and other tqpics. 12 Quesuons .-
,,. tosmknand authe nt'icity · have to channel future action. In other words, one of our interests is the
tors want remained primary~because callee· complex conjunction among objects, social and cultural structures, hu-
ow whether th eir· purehase is
panicular type of k an authentic example of a man agency. and the p()wer to shape or view the world in ways that
wor
~ 1. -~ ,.,_t.~ ,, and th ey want to know where an object carne
1
1LCf1\i'(~v r ~
 I IL .-
Jo Arnoldi
,id Mary
11ardill a
[(ri! L,
~ · werests into the realm lntroducrion ~ II
10 . · na 1 I of
inslltull 0. lations of power are cultur
. ·dual or uch re I b' e. anth ropologica l/contextua l and art hi5torical/fonnal approaches are be-
ind1v1 ct thats various ro cs o Jects play
e~
,~yon d
•rend II' acrions,
ru1urc
rhe 1a . of t Iie
rr cxP
1ora11ons
11 eccss
. 1 1,
arilY me Ul e an understand
.
1n
·
ginning ro move closer toget her.
We see th ese two strains or commenrary as interrelated; by viewing
7
sharin~ ns 11ia1 ot Jllust a1so . 1 ·11 which obiects are produc d
nfic r11ra . of cullur~ tcms wit 11 e objects in terms or the strnctures, ac~i~ns, and p~ses through which
spf< strucuon d sacral sys / people produce, use, and evaluate them, researchers are better able to
rhr con~ culiural an explicitly Africa-centered a
. ol 1,,e 111ore . P· consider the dial~ciical relationship between objects and those who
,ns
nd use ·
d
are ar
guing for a
sueI1
a position places this voJu..,
.. ,e make or use them- how peopleJ hap~objec;ts and, in turn, how pa J'.!iru- J
a sasicallY, we material culture. f tong-standing debates about the
far uses of objects shape pe';;ple. This reconciliation makes it possible to
roach io AfriC~O it in the center o form-based exegesis of material rrame new and more encompa~sing ways of exploring material experi-
:nd ihe essays !~based as opposed toften characterized, respectively, as ence by allowing room for the emergence of methods and perspectives
context h s are o .
value of ~ o approac e ·n our expenence we find ther that will fostt:r an Africa-centered approach to African material culture.
rtiese tw · I but I e
culwre. . and art histonca ' . es what. our interest in focusin From this emphasis on structure, action, and process it is also possible
olog1ca1 . ho pracuc . . . g
an1hroP of overlap IJl w d' ussions of the hmuauons of both 10 link the study of African material culture to contempora ry trends in
. real dea I recent 1sc . .
1s a g. . passe stems from . es and the hope that m this atrno. social theory. Essentially, this is a call for studies that are situated in
n 1111s 1m I perspecllV h
o b sed and tonna d It is now clear that eac approach particular cultural settings and oriented toward exploring fo nn and ac-
con1e~1- a be covere •
ew ground can h si·ze only selected aspects of material tion in tenns of local categories of production and use. Recent literature
sphere n d' that emp a
on the politics of representation has also stimulated efforts in this direc-
h s resulted in stu ies d 'th morphology and
a ncerne w1 .
form have tended to
f
iure. scholars co e that form exists separate rom con. tion by forcing scholars to step back from na tional, disciplinary, and
cu l . xt and assum .
other biases in ways that allow local, indigenous, or situated meanings,
ne•fect soaal conte i·ned social contexts of matenal culture
o ho have exam acts of produc~ usage to drive and shape research.
iext, while those w h tionships between contexts and formal
. d explore t e re Ia . . . ·1· . A theory ofs~ s important here. Objects are produced and used
have fade 10 h . t dies often exh1b1t an mab1 Uy to lmk ob-
. f bjects r eir s u in ways that bnng together questions of structure and tradition with
properties O O • theory in the social sciences because of the
. d' to contemporary . human desires, goals, and aspirations. In their interactions with the ma-
iect stu .ies n tonnalist perspectives, and the tendency to view objects,
emphasis O ho make and use them, in ahistorical terms. terial world real people explore and refonn the structures that enable
and thus the peop Ie w · ·h b h f and constrain their actions and at the same time develop patterns for
eful models for dealmg wit ot orm and con-
There are several Us fut~ n. Part of this type of analysis must include the contesta•
. • 'ficant ways In an early study, Paula Ben-Amos suggests a
dID~ ' . .. tions, minority voices, and other factors that make everyday life and
relationship between social factors such as recrmtment and trammg and activity a messy, problematic, and ever-changing affair.
the more formal elements of style, composition, and skill in the produc- The case studies in this book revolve around several main topics. First,
tion of Bini material culture (Ben-Amos 1975). William Siegmann has whether the individual papers deal with such disparate topics as the
considered the way that social factors also shape the form of Poro mas- production of iron ore or the aesthetic criteria of the Euro-American
querade in three areas of West Africa (Siegmann 1980). A third model "high art• world, they all explore indigenous classification systems and
for this kind of research can be found in Michelle Gilbert's recent analy- forms of knowledge. This background serves as a first step in connecting
sis of the ways that Akan ideas of cosmology and power relate to the objects to ideologies or pragmatics and allows a view of how cultural
forms of ancestral shrines (Gilbert 1989). The possibility of a break in forms are constructed through the manipulation or resortings of mean-
~e impasse between formal and context-based approaches became par- ings of objects. That such meanings are flexible and subject to manipula- ,,,.
ucularly apparent during the philosophical and political debates sur- tion can be seen only when the researcher's own assumed (cultural)
r7'oun~ng th e Museum of Modern Art's 1984 exhibition Primitivism in knowledge is somehow bracketed and replaced with an approximation
Wtnlllth-Century Art D . of how local systems of meaning are constructed. By framing research
an historia f · unng these debates a fair number of Africanist
ns ound themselv ·· f in this way many of the essays begin to look at how knowledge of ob-
the exhibit as th . es VOJcmg many of the same criticisms o
e1r anthropol ogist · coII eagues. From this it seems that jects and their meanings in one domain connects with and even helps
~ l
 , ,,d Mary Jll Anrllldi
H111v/lll 11
,<,,s• L,
1,
, ~ ·11 gs 111
other domains , l'htts
· ·--- · Ob·
d 11¢-,
l••C al).;;-- I tcd -to- objects or forms in 011 letJttt1 Introduct ion -,. 13
11 kll wlr( I~can be redato po li'tics , and material for,....,, ca do.
O
1o ('('lnst1',d1 '1111.111 rit11a b, relate . w The precise shape of 11 b,
an e rJdv1e · 11le t of lost traditions, cul tu ral deterioration, and even victimization. By fo.
('()nnc<fl .A iction
('(~,1 I ctions J1iP to wocann ot be presumed but must telyet 1 cusing on human agency and change, it i~ po~sible to view the ways in
n1ainS, r, r its re a ociations
red ,o r ass tan d'1118 of specific cultures, ()n which Alricans activel y use objects to produce social and cuhu ral fo rms,
r~rlo nc<tions o based unders cross domains, many of the including forms of resistance , contestation, and other aspects of unique
vant ('('lllo~rarhicalll'. ,a connections. a sand knowledge and how ebs.say,
ethO . 10 seen.,, f 111ean1n . and changing identities in an ever-changing world.
o le
an ddilion
10 a hcterogcneitY o gones .
o
f similarity and difference· in
. ' 0thCls
To explore these issues of construction, identity, and representat ion
s (lll ,hr nstruct catc we have divided this volume into three sections-T echnology and the
f()('II _, to co . ObJ' ects can mark inclus1011 or exclusion Ito,,, er
n Production of Form, Constructing Identities, and Life ~ories of Ob-
ca be us('11\l, relatl·ons with ds to tlie important ro Ie of contest .. ,, ~lt()n jects. Howeve~ there are num~-;:;;us ;_ays that the papers in each section
words, h0 ·cs This lea . the process of constructing Ill ,
ategon . ' focus is 011 . , b ean (Werlap with those in the other two sections.
soaal c searchers . ·n
the re h·ps wit 111 particular soc1et1es• or et ween soCi ·
whether er relations 1 'thin them the potential for renego . ·
In Part I-Technology and the Production of Form-we are concerned
. nd paw . hold with the documentation and analysis of technique s of production. Re-
ings a h contestauons . w1ly the poss1b1hty . .. f h .
o res ap111g social
lta1.
r1ies. sue . searchers have tended to see techniques of productio n as processes to
relanons and ulumate . and
inc pawer . temolog1es. . . be described rather than as arenas for investigat ion in their own right."/.1
• 11orms
cultura or epis
. that the essays share 1s the view that the relati on. As~re's~lt. production has-bee ~e-;ed priJ~·arlly as a ;i~ f given" and
Th e last perspecnve d eanings are tenuous, constantly shiftin known forces, while the relationship of particular techniques of pro•
st °
h·ps between b'ectS an m
d through human action. While socia
j
· ·
. .
1 d
an cultural for"'g,
h ,.,s
duction to the social and cultural forms in which they are embedded
and constructe .
• msome d'irections, they enable 11 m ot ers. In so"',.,e has remained largely unexplored. 15 Because production has not been
constrain acuon_ viewed as it is locally conceived and defined, the complex relationships
d' cuon of enablement provides the resources with Which
cases the ire . 1 and change their worlds. Both the symbolic among activities of production. the concepts that inform them. and the
t mampu ate . . . nature of the resulting forms (both objective and social) have tended.
,,,...
human agen s . ects of objectification, through which an obiect
th chnolog1ca1asp __. . -..:c.i..:: until recently to remain obscure. In general, the emphasis on exploring
and es etoteacquire . mean ing and value outilll...e._of the P.l.Qill!m_and be.
. _
~ a vehic. 1e for discourse or cultural construet
---c.; local concepts of production provides insight into the ways that the pro-
comes h ion, are I creative
. -pro. duction of form is part of a unified process that produces both material
cesses whi'ch occur before during, and after t e actua
_ • _ . creation
~ of
. an and intellectual objects (Jewsiewicki 1988).
0-~ . Because these meanings are constructed m the. constram ts im.
. The chapters in this part focus on techn ic"~ a form of indige-
plied by structure, value, and tradition, and by .the sub~ecuvely. charged nous knowledge that is locally based and th~dd ed in specific so-
interpretations of such forces as well as by the mnovanve and imagina- cial, historical, and epistemological contexts. They present the act of pro-
tive capacities of human agents, the meanings of objects are also subject duction as having consequences both for the production of future action
to the tensions between duty and interest that both plague and intensify and for the production of culture itself. In addition, the essays suggest
all human experience.
that ch~es in one aspect of production, for example. gender relations
By focusing on an Africa-centered approach to material culture we or appr~·s hip, affect other domains of culture in significant and
hope 10 incorporate both form and context in ways that escape some of sometimes unpredictable ways. These interests follow from recent trends
the problems of each approach alone. In this way it is possible to see in social theory that recognize the importance of human agency and
) how objeas become potent tools in the construction of identity, social practice in the continual reconstruction of social forms (see Bourdieu
relationships history d · • • f 1972 and Giddens 1976). Anthony Giddens, for example, suggests that
1
su , an · ·ep1stemo
b og1es. These are issues that go ar
i.-. •
""rond outsiders' change is an inherent outcome of production as actors respond to the
rial I
cu ppos111ons a out, or expectations of, African mate·
ture. The study Of · contingent factors ol specific situations in the production and use of so-
people unde material culture, then, can shed light on how
cial forms. ln applying this to material culture it is possible to suggest
they act to corstanntdi, hco_nstrua, and manage their lives, as well as how
rot ell'ownd . . . that as people change habits of production in response to changing envi•
Particularly the k woronAf · CSlimes. For too long• research on Afnca, ronmental, technological, and social factors, they are, in fact. potentially
ncan arts, has carried with it the connotation changing culture itself as new habits are developed .
·- 14 ~ Kns. L. Hardin 1111d
Mary Jo Arnoldi
. h notion of technological style, as discussed Introduction ~ J5
and 1977) by
Kris L.~~ se\~ 7; and Marie Jeanne Adams ( l ~73
in the l<o to
Heather Lee ma~ (l . between domains of production l.ilbelle Prussin 's essay, which explores nomadic architecture
among
. compares the production of tCJctrJe .110
explore the relauonship several African groups, also raises Ihe question of homologies
or analo-
I S. L ne Her ana1ys1s Hardin suggests that id --;--;:: s s the implica-
area o ierra eo · .
and ceramics with the production ..!!- · °
f ·ce
. eatronaJ
s of production
gies among domains, but her work more directly consider
Iions of such associations for question s of change. In essence.
her prob-
-'( and behavioral similarities or analogies a_cross dom~m y lifestyles.
patterns that lem is to define the links between nomadic and sedentar
form one aspect of knowle d b ral ·
dge that provides behavio through
Such an While nom~ :c_h~ cture achieves its sense of permanency
. and, m . . e y acuon.
. tum • are structur . lly recon-
both structure acuon its reconstitu&on in and through time in ways that continua
approach prov1'des ms1g. . hts t'nto the role ind1v1duals P1ay m• the construe• struct concep1s of value, aesthetics, hisIOry, and forms of ritual,
shifts to
.
. of obJects
uon as we11 as cu lture and into the .
power re. 1auons
. embedded
~ore sedentary lifestyles necessarily imply shi[ts in the actions
that give
- s that changes. m pracuce m one domain changes she
. producu.on. It a1so imp
m . 11e , ris_£ to cosmological and epistemologica_!l!]imeworks. The
. re on construction
have consequences Ior oth er do mains · While much of .
the literatu identifies have to do with women losing control over the
ions of
teehno1og1ca • 1 sty1e cons1'ders how domains of producuon mirror .each process to husbands as they become sedentary and the implicat
other issues.
other, Hardin frames her discussion in a way that shows that
~he differ- this shift for questions of power, affect, and a range of
the locus
ences between domains and between individuals become
as important Prussin is also interested in the ways that sedentarization shifts
in the
and nature of memory for women. As nomads settle, changes
as the similarities for questions of power and change. inevitable.
consider- complex of rituals of first house-building at marriage are
Michael Rowlands and Jean-Pierre Wamier continue the gy with
at the tech- Constructing the nomadic house conflates aspects of technolo
ation of analogies across domains of production by looking highly charged symbols and an array of emotional and
aesthetic re-
much of
nology of ironworking in the Grassfields of Cameroon. While sponses that are reproduced with each act o[ reconstruction.
In contrast ,
of technol-
the literature on ironworking in Africa relates the symbolism such powerful arenas for renewal and cultural reproduction
are lost or ,-
ds and
ogy to gender relations and the processes of procreation, Rowlan relocated when structures are no longer re-created with some
frequency
are not
Warnier refine this literature by noting that such associations over time. Prussin's essay, then, points to the imponance of
understand-
ogy be-
natural, but are humanly constructed. Rather than one technol ing the ways that various domains interpenetrate and the consequ
ences
abstract
ing causal, Rowlands and Wamier suggest similarity at a more of change in any panicular domain .
ction. Their implicitly
level than either the techniques of ironworking or reprodu Kanimba Misago also considers change, but at a level that
person, in He combines
discussion illuminates common themes in the concept of the challenges the tendency 10 see African cultures as static.
that his-
binh and funerary rites, and in the production of iron. Techniq
ues in stylistic analysis and techniques of ethnoarchaeology to suggest
the Upemba
each of these domains are only pans in a more sustained discours
e on torical changes observed by archaeologists in pottery in
changes in
the practical efficacy and achievement of those who have the
power to River lowlands of Central Africa are more likely related to
one culture ,,,.
transform. In a second and related conclusion, Rowlands and
Warnier other domains of activity rather than to the replacement of
a We t- that changes
show that both ironworking and reproduction incorporate what by another, as has been commonly accepted . He suggests
hs. that _would
erner might distinguish as technical and magical actions They in ceramic form can be correlated with an array of changes
. . h a~sumpu~n . tha t a line can•be drawn uset1s
accompany larger cultural processes, including a ·1shi!t from relying on r/-<.
perspective 1? quesuon t e
d
be-
WhI e h·is 1
·deas must . sull
tween techmcal efficacy and 1deolog1cal efficacy and thereb agriculture to a locus on interregional• tra1·de.
strate the insufficiency of universal technical solutions to lo
i emon-
ca and cul-
.
be tested against changes m .the soc1opo . ·
· 1 env1·ronment, his work.
1t1ca
alysis of 1echnoio g1-
turally specific problems. Quite simply, in the Grassfteld very clearly shows the necessity of s11uanng any an
.
case wh~t
Westerners might call magical efficacy cannot be separated; cal change within the parameters of changes in related dom~ms
. 'ders
rolll techm-
cal efficacy. In this way Rowlands and Warnler funher delll st Of the chapters on technology, Kazadi Ntole most clocts~11::s1 In a
rate that f Objects work to constru ·
iron production is only one aspect of a general cosmology t~n d •
° and meaning he delineates two cate•
lines cause-and-effect relations, concep1s of power, and SOct
a: also out- the ways that the pro u~uon
: relations. survey of Bambala matenal culture d 1·nst·1111tionalized/ordinary. His
That cosmology is only apparent if the Westerner's e1hnoc, separa. · · , men/womenhe an separation of objects into opposing
Irtc gories of opposmons.
lion of person and thing is overcome.
interest is In then looking at how t
 Ja ,4,-,wldi fntroduction ~ 17
. 1111J?tWY
. /lilrdllf · Jn
. 1·,ues.
,e. l(rrs· l,. d fonn persona
b and cultural production . Just as objects can have multiple meanings,
I6 .. s an of the apparatus y
I shape
, activ111e
part Arens and Karp ( 1989:xxiii ) have poi nted out that there are usually
rares 10 b011 ductioll forl11 ed He then moves to
, competing epicenters of power, each using its own interpretative frame-
nes opt' d heir pro d and us .
catrR 0 objeCIS ail 1. . s arc produce ·ects (such as hrearms) or work to arrive at mean(ngs in the material world . As interpretations
this wa~ple and ,dc1_1u11educrioJ1 of new _obJ f raffia cloth) result in change so, often, do relations of power, in ways that have consequences
which P hoW rhc intro . itroducoon o -
uesrions of . such as the u es in culture. for the production of social and cultural forms.
Qhanges in obJc~s ( d u1tin1atclY chans strate the importance of Aneesa Kassam and Gemetchu Megerssa focus on a relatively mun-
b hav1or an I deJ11011 . I
c
angcs in e h pters in Part id This irnphes t 1at any dane and visually unelaborated form-the Oromo walking stick-to
Cl1 the casa part of the rived wordefinition ·
As a group, s, categories, and consider the complex ways that sticks shape Oromo identity. Kassam
. chnologY must sea reI1 for Joca Iderstand the boundari.es of and Megerssa demonstrate that the sticks themselves are material ex-
vie"~ng te logy .
. of techno ff ct to un
analysis . s of cause and e e . or transformation must be
. . pressions of the transformations of self and society over time. Here
. ed theone roducoon -
s11ua1 . I technology . Thus p -.I w the world works. V1ewmg meanings are not inscribed in the material record but are cognitively
parucu ar .d about 10ecting both production and
any . rms of indi enous I eas . present through the specific ways that Oromo link objective and social
seen m te in this way necesSr·1ates conn y and epistemology m culture- worlds. Meaning, then, is not reflected in forma l terms in the sticks, but
teehnoIogy spheres of cosmo Iog is constituted through the use and interpretations of the sticks. Equally
b'ect to the larger
opejcific ways. t'ng Identities, explore localized and . important, Kassam and Megerssa implicitly critique the tendency of re-
. p rt n construe 1 .
S
The chapters m a ' . peop le use objects both to obJect1fy and
. search on material culture to focus solely on elaborated forms. The Or-
s in whJCh .
.
culture-spea 6c way . h disciplines that study Afncan matenal omo case makes it clear that the degree of formal elaboration is not -;)4-
•d ·1Y· While a11 the f this work relies on several untested always an indication of the degree of cultural import.
10 construct enu
I .
. meaning' muc·ng orelates to the material world. The first While the identity-giving aspects of objects are often associated with
culture examme
· s about W how meani the serious side of life, Mary Jo Arnoldi's analysis of Bamana puppetry
assumpt~on . n categories and classification systems, for ex-
assumpuon 1s that esterstinctions between mmd . and matter, body and demonstrates that identity can also be constructed in contexts identified
ample, those base· dI on di . .
.. d nd nonmaterial are umversals and thus mmor Af- as entertainment. Puppet performances in the region of Segou draw
spmt, an matena a '
upon ri~l as well as every~ay forms in ways that construct historical
rican conceptions of the objective world. 16
A second assumption is that objects passively reflect or stand for and ethnic identities as well as models of gender and other social rela-
meanings. While there have been numerous important studies of the tions. Just as in Kassam and Megerssa's analysis of sticks, Arnoldi dem-
relationship between form and worldview, ideology, or cosmology (see, onstrates that the meanings and identities generated within perfor-
for example, Arnoldi 1986, Biebuyck 1972, and Feeley-Harnik 1980), mance are not solely the result of formal interpretations of objective
little attention has been paid to the process by which African objects, form, but rather that the meaning of the puppets is tied to a variety of
when coupled with human agency, become powerful allies in the con- factors, some of which lie outside the performance itself. Meaning in the
struction of identity, meaning, and culture itself. Moving beyond the performance comes from the interrelationships and order of presenta-
emphasis on reflection implies taking account of how human actors in- tion of the various characters. These relationships set up an interpreta-
teract with objects and the consequences of those actions. tive frame within the performance where the past becomes a foil for
,,,.. A third assumption is that the meanings of objects are shared by all discourse on the present as well as on ideals of future behavior or possi-
· · • ,
. . of a .society· Wh at 1s m1ssmg 1s a sense of the ways that varia-
members bilities. Some of the meanings constructed in puppetry performances re-
lions m meamngs amon . d' 'd 1
ted g m IV! ua S, over time, or across contexts are
late to ethnic, gender, and generational identities, but Arnoldi's histori-
accommoda
_ or resolved or the • I' S~J10ns .
of such variations for cal approach shows thm the puppetry form itself is flexible in ways that
questions of change h' ...!!!I.J!..!.
allow agents to incorporate new meanings and commentaries over time.
idea that the mean· or t fe c~nSLruction of culture. Critical here is the
mgs O Objects are appre hended or appropriated in Michael Rowlands also addresses objects and their use in constructing
ways that are framed by th both identity and ideals. His focus is the interface of identity, consumer-
. d"d e norms of l d' . or structure as well as by
ra lllon
m IV! ualized and subj'ect·
v · · . ive1Y charged I ism, and ideas of modernity in Bamenda, a provincial town in Camer-
meanings that a f goa s and activities. The result is
anauons m
re o ten the Sites , for dispute, contestation, oon. He uses case studies of consumption to explore the ways that
 Jo Aruoldi
." and Mar)' Introduction ~ 19
ris L. Hard'
18 ,o, J( of achievement, and
specific stratcglesthat there are distinct changes in clothing and agricultural producti on, men in general
culture· otlon per•
or counter titiquc then by tracing numerous ceived themselves to be losing a degree of control over their wives
·ces rr neCl as
ch 01 . , , Rowlands is· able to c
• d •modern .'
• rrcways , , ,
the level of md1v1dual they adopted new styles of dress and ideas of morality ; mothers-in-law
in 1h1bs ";~en •1radi1ional an BY also considering ces between the indi• Jost control over daughters-in-law who used new hoe types
gaps el the 1wo. and adopted
n1inui1ies bc1we~n bl to muminate tie 1 diflcren
apparent that there is no
, new forms ol dress; and elders lost a degree of control as young
men
co en1s Rowlands is a de_ s ThUS it becom~s ent· rather, the choices adopted both the shirts and pants necessar y in wage labor and the
ag · . case stu 1e • eco•
r acluevem • nomic independence employment allowed . Here the interplay between
viduals in h1S t'ic strategies 1O /
single sel of pro grammaliaped by • ctions of [actors that have , to do structure and agency is most apparent in the dilemmas that emerged
ake are s coniun ls and interpretauon ol
individua1s m. , personal backgro und. ' goa t'on
, [rom what were olten conflicting choices and in the ability of human
· div1dua1 s 1 more generally.
wi1h an 10 d traditions that cons tram ac . t'on
agents to manipulate structure in ways that produced new cultural
ctures 1 of Igbo domestic ar-
1he stru . kan presenis a deta1•1ed descnp . point is the relauons . .
htp
lorms.
chike Ama or
d material culture. His starting Igbo man's name refers not
In Part III, Lile Histories of Objects, 17 the essays shift lrom the fine·
chitecture an b' cts Thus an . d h' grained analysis ol producti on and
bo identity to the larger-sc ale
between Ig words and JC · d he obJ'ects it contains, an 1s processe s,
O
h'
. the man but to ts househol. k, t 'dentifies three pnnc1ple . . historical events, and changing patterns in which African material
cul-
1ust to·,ng within ·the
community.
• Ama or 1 . s that ture is encapsulated. Our vehicle for exploring the relationships between
stan d d hows the ways in which these
•nform Jgbo domesuc . h' cture an s objects and this wider framework is the history of objects as they move
arc ite .
1 1space · but in male/female rela-
are constructed not on IYin archnectura blic and private in the course ol
from one context to another. In this way it is possible to examine large·
tions and . d' · ctions between. pu'pies is binary complementanty
m 1sun . scale historical processes within Africa, such as regional relations among
. . . One of hts. pnnc1 (as African societies, the emergence of new social forms in Africa (such
everyday activtt1es.. in which "the difference between two objects as
opposed to op~os'.u~n),_ • In this way he is able to demonstrate that the nation-state or the museum), how objects are used within or trans•
constitutes their simdantfy . b' t vary among individuals and that while lormed !or these contexts, and the sharing of cultural beliefs and their
• gs and uses o o JeC s effect on forms. By locusing on large-scale processes it is also possible
the meanm h d to concepts of space, morality , design, and spe• to
the meanings attac e h . explore the flows of objects between Africa and other pans of the world,
. .. b d'flerent
1 for Igbo men and Igbo women, w at ts
cific acUVJUes may e . , . as in the incorporation of African objects into
/ . world markets, the effects
important 1s· th e fit between these differences. Amakor s analysis .
makes of the international an trade on the meanings attributed to African
• th
11 c1ear at each si'de of the dualism is a necessar y part of an integrated ma•
, terial culture, and the incorporation of Euro-American objects or institu-
whole that is dynamic and capable of mnovau,on, expansio ,
n, and tions (such as museums or panicular kinds of research tools) in African
change. , . , , settings.
Margaret Jean Hay's essay is also concerned with vanauon s m the
meanings of objects, but her interest is in changes in meaning over time Understanding these large-scale processes has to do with understand-
and the way such changes affect identity. She focuses on changing atti- ing the ways that foreign objects or institutio ns are domesti cated in ei•
tudes toward the hoe and clothing in colonial western Kenya. In her ther African or Euro-American contexts. Drewal writes that "[o)bjec
ts
analysis it is possibleto see thecomplex interplay among material ob• from elsewh ere-the recontex tualized creation s of other systems of
jects in ways that relate questions of taste and morality to questions of thought and action-r eveal as much about the users as objects produce d
tradition, economics, production, and agency. From Hay's work it is by those users. Moreover, people intentionally or unintentionally
use
clear that Anglican convens and labor migrants were self-conscious in· the objects of others to define themsel ves· (Drewal 1989:69 ).
novators ~nd promoters of new forms of clothing and tools. Hay is also This brings us back to a question raised in the chapters on technolo
gy
able _10 di~cuss the repercussions and again in the part on identity : How do people objectify objects?
of such shifts for identity and social How
relauonsh1 do objects bt·come repositories of meaning and value as they are
. . ps· Here, too, "it 1s c1ear that . acuons in one domain affect ac•
de-
lions m others in ways th h contextualized and re-contextualized in new places, times, and situa•
th . at
e construction ol culture aveI' consequ ences both for identity and for tions? In part, answering this question has to do with understanding
of power With . . ·.Imp ,cit. m .
much
· m1ss1onanes and 1 , of the. analysis .
is a question how objects mediate between values and the interests of individu als,
co oma1 adnums trators authorizing between tradition and creativity, between social goals and persona
l
 }II ,4r1111fdi
fntroduction -0, 2I
,din a11d !,WY
~ l(riS L, Ha h ve to do with cul- orewal suggests that such resymbolizing or the other is a universal pro-
20 these que stionsI aand how it can be cess, that we transform aspects or the other that relate to us in our o~
I ,ne answers to atcrial culture \nt of the creativity terms, and that such processes of symbolizing the other are at their
one 1cve f what tll ake acco heart attempts at self-definition. Like Geary and Ravenhill, then, Drewal
~o,1ls. At d ftnitions O wers must t nd enablements em-
ture-spedfic threr level such ans i1 the constraints a demonstrates that the ways in which objects are used in particular
_, At ano pproac places and times often tell us more about those using the objects than
uscu• . h individua Is a . 1systcrns, biectiflcation of objects
'th w'1JC . 1ar soeta . 'tY the o 1 about the objects themselves. At the same time, Drewal suggests the
~drd w11hin part_icu an issue of creauv1 cifiC ways in which p_eople go
addition to (>eing d the culture•sPe ·ng conflicts of mterpre- transformation of imagery of the exotic other into Marni Wata implies a A/,
Jn f pawer an . s Reso1v1 . d' kind of coniroT'over foreign objects that has powerful implications. By
. aquestion o d'ctor¥ rnea01ng · d channels the way m t•
is resolving con1ra I . defines ideals, an incorporating elements of the world capitalist system, Marni Wata de:o•
at>out d s for action,
,arion sets agen a id t'ons (the Institut Fran~ais tees are (not· rejecting their own identities,)ut instead, are reworkmg
ee the wor . !FAN co 11 ec I I .
vidua Is s h'II looks at the ~ us about French co omal definitions of themselves throu~~eir use _a~P!,~_!iation of con-
Ph1Tp
1
Raven I
• ) to consider w a
h t they can te F ench interests use .
d Afncan tem-p-;;~ry forms. This chapter and others in Part ill make it dear that
..u d'Afnque Noire
.,,- . a Essentially he ar
gues that r and that this. 1s
f Af •ca . revealed objects and their meanings are often a central element in such re-
·ews of A1reify
vi .
nc . French descnp '. o nll as in the exhibitions staged
. t'ons
workings.
as we
obJects. to the nature of the co Uecnons h ·c cultures were self-perpetuat- In a similar vein, Bogumil Jew~cki's work on popular urban #,
bot h m . I framework et OJ f h painting in Za'ire demonstrates the ways that new objects or forms can
!FAN In the coloma . rtant any deviations rom t e
bY . . and rnore ,rnpo ' . come rorepresent or fuse with already-held images or concepts. He is
ing and unchangmg, ' 'fl tion were seen in ne auve terms-
norms esU!blis. hed b French class, . hcacontamination of st les an d ot h_er particularly interested in the creative capacity of people to use elements
. a Jack of ski11, t e . d of the dominant culture to produce their own culture. In his essay he
as demonstraun d with the others in this sect10n, em-
I hort this case stu y, as connects the relative prosperity of Zai:re in the 196Os and earlv 197Os
(!Qg_rs, n s ' . of objects is contextual.
onstrates that the m,eanmg deals with the contextual nature of the with several factors: the reorganization of private space inside the house
christraud Geary s essay • · f 1 to include activities that would previously hav~ public; the reintro-
meanings of objects by following the changmg meanmgsk_o dsever_a
\_ ted for the royal court of the Barnum mg om m duction of photos and painting on living room walls (with pomaits be-
( beaded thrones r' ea 'thin Cameroon and Europe. In this .
. d1scuss10n. ing less expensive than photographs); the emphasis on photographic re-
western CameroOn Wl alism in paintings; the "grammar• or arrangement of images in colonial
Geary demonstrates very clearly the complex ways in which meanings
are transformed as objects change contexts. In her examples the thrones photographs: and the use of images of colonial politics in ways that
are ' things of the palace: symbols of successful colonization (in German make reference to practices experienced in independent Zaire. This anal-
collections), symbols of failed colonization (in French collections), and ysis also demonstrates the complex ways in which form and context are
symbols of Barnum identity within Cameroon. It is also clear from often inextricably linked.
Geary's description of the recent burning of one of these thrones in Ba- All four of these chapters consider the ways that the interests of those
rnum that these transformations of meaning are an ongoing part of peo- appropriating forms or objects affect their interpretation. Equally im-
ple's interactions with objects-the meanings of objects are contested portant, these essays suggest that the process of appropriating is an on-
and neg~tiated in ways that continue to have to do with questions of going part of everyday life. Understanding the use of objects in this pro-
power, his~ry, and identity. Geary's essay also makes it clear that the cess requires research that cross-cuts national or regional boundaries
translormauons
Af . . of mearung • she d'1scusses happen in both European and and attention to the multiplicity of meanings that particular forms might
ncan semngs. engender. Like many of the chapters in the section on objects and iden-
Henry Drewal's contribution th' tity, research on the transformation of meanings also implies research
objects and imag to IS volume explores how European
ery are transformed in Af . into questions of power-essentially these are questions as to whose
bYdocumenting the ha . ncan contexts. Drewal begins
were transformed fromwayb .t t images of mermat'd s and snake charmers meanings prevail in particular contexts, why, and what the conse-
a~un· a S}ymb~~!he "exotic other" for Europe-
Ingg as quences of decisions about knowledge and authority are for future ac-
-
~ n t i a l imagefor Ma . w:-::-,--=..:.:.:.:.:.:....:.:::!..!:~X
tion.
- - ~ --~t~ devotees in West Africa.
--··- -~-- ·----
 Introduction ~ 23
. atrd Mar)' Jo Arnoldi
d
ll ~ l(riS L. HIii' '" and Christiani1y see Jea nn e Canni1.1.o, lnro rht Heart of Africa. and its ca talogue
. pi·cpare fertile ground for future stud-
(Cannizzo 1989).
. Al
ThCcase stu d'ies tn 1111s vo1ume
. by ,rovidlng a fra1nework that can en- 6. Arllarrifacr. a 1988 exhibition at the Center ror African Art in New York,
1 layed wilh the definit ional boundaries of various categories of objects. For a
nca ;, ""
"',1 ma"". I culture din .,,1e,t _,a '""'""'"' ways. o, the
ow the import of 1111cros1u 1cs ti mt re Iate form iur1her discussion of rhe history of these boundarie~ see Vogel (1988).
F'"
comn.0ss t,oth rorrn an · d' 7. 11 is important to point out thal this splil is not necessarily a split between
11 1cr111s, terms that dc,ine the nature of
one hand 1hese essays specific
. cultiire s 11 an hisrorians and anthropologists. Numerous anthropologists fell int.o the aes·
•fom>"
10 context in ., ·'"• wa~ 1h01 tdl "' mo"th,boot Afn""
".""' . 11,es. ob- rh elc camp. For example, in 195 I the anthropologist Raymond Firth wrote
1 1 Al ,ool h" ''"''· ,,m, of '" "" ,1""" '"' te a •There are universal standards or aesthetic quality" (Firth 1951 :16).
,,.«
J-" aod ;deotltf«
fo< tookiOi at tl,< wa~ thOI Afrl"·""tered IapPmad,<S to Af<fc,o
•"'"'' rufw• "" h<IP to ,,.h,P' ou< fde,S of he t,,g,.,c,le hfstmf.
8. Jn 1914 Alfred Stieglitz organized the first American exhibition of African
art al Gallery 291 in New York City. In 1933 the Museum of Modem Art in New
al__, ,od ,..,,.11 ,al fl'"" that most objects"', pa<t of. Th York mounted an exhibit of about six hundred African sculptures. Following this
1
h'" ol 1Ms '""""'Is'"
0
'""ci"""
of'''"'' '"d the oomt,afot'
1hat ,.,;ru•• """' system, impose- We hope that thS ,olome .,:
exhibition and throughout the next decades, a number of fine arts museums in
the United St,1tes began to mount modest exhibitions of African sculpture. In
I 954 the Museum of Primitive Art. dedicated to the collection and display of
"""' forth" '"""'"' to ,,pto• the multitude of ways In wh~• primitive art, was founded by Nelson Rockefeller in New York. In 1978-79
peop11 "' obJ"" to ""'"'"" th< world ,m,od them. tch Rockefeller donated the Museum of Primitive Art to the Metropolitan Museum
of Art, uniting the two collections.
9. Karp terms this exhibition technique •assimilation· (as opposed to exot-
icizing) in that it places foreign objects in familiar settings. Definitions of the
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS object are then shaped by the setting. In his words, in assimilation ·cultural and
hislOrical differences are obliterated from the exhibiting record· (Karp 1991 :
nie au!hors would like 10 thank Ivan Karp, Christraud Geary, and the anony-
376).
mous reviewer for Indiana University Press for comments on various drafts of
I0. Although African art was studied by European museum curators and eth-
1his essay. nologists it was not accepted within the European discipline of art history be-
(ausc, as Adams notes, it was perceived to lack "demonstrated historical evolu-
tion of forms, ... information about the artistic personality of the sub-Saharan
rnrver, ... [and] written documents as a basis for historical or interpretive
NOTES
study." There was also the perception "that Africa lacked the kind of cultural
. . . Ni h I s Thomas writes •that the intrinsic properties of values that gave significance to European an· (Adams 1989:57). However, in
I 1nas11miarvem IC oa d · II d
.' , · far as they are recognized and use pract1ca y, an American universities in the late 1950s African an slowly began to be studied
a thing are only sa 11ent m so . . h
moreover •• u,at the mostun · portant elements are usually not mherent mt e ma- in its own right. The first Amerirnn Ph.D. in African an history was awarded to
ierial strue1ure al all" (Thomas 1989:41). Roy Sieber in 1957 by the University of Iowa. In this early work stylistic analysis
2. See especially Mudimbe (1983), Price (1989), and Karp and Lavine and studies of style distribution continued to shape approaches 10 African art
(1991). This is also a theme that runs through Ben-Amos's (1989) recent over- history, but interests in style were soon combinl-d with growing interests in ico•
view on African visual arts from a social perspective. nography and use. topics that were stimulated by field n:searrh in Africa.
3. We are not suggesting that "truth" and ·accuracy• can be the researcher's 11. Even in this latter approach, however. the tendency has been to see ob-
goal. Rather, the goal is to open up the study of African material culture to jects as reflections of culture rather than as tools in the constitution of culture.
new and alternative viewpoints and thus to somewhat undermine the hold that Thus ritu~jects have tended to be studied from the point of view of their
particular strains of European thinking have had on the way Africa is studied. ability to present ideological principles in symbolic terms rather than from the
4. Evolution, in this context, is the idea that all societies eventually pass stance that their production and use actually participate in the construction of
:~rou~ a.simi.la~ set of stages until they emerge at the pinnacle of civilization, ideology (see, for example. Adams 1973, 1977, and Littlejohn 1960).
· " soaeues s1m1lar to those found in Western Europe in the late nineteenth 12. Paula Ben-Amos's recent overview of social approaches to African art ,
ctnitury. Ornamented surfaces were much more suited to this endeavor than may help to n·shape the overemphasis on formal approaches in studies of Afri·
scu plural forms Gerbrands · ..
was taken in ~I al f wntes, atmg Goldwater, that "[l]ittle or no interest can material culture (see Ben-Amos 1989). In it she stresses the importance of
possible 10 fit th!~ur orms ~fan from prehistoric times, because it was not looking for new approaches to African art that "will be closer to actual African
'"' scu Ip1ures mto the I • t·xperience• (Ben-Amos 1989:3).
so plausibly could be d . evo uuon1st scheme of development as
one wuh the . ' 13. The sometimes heated debates about the direction and goals of African
!990:15; see also Goldwater . ornamentation of surfaces• (Gerbrands
1938 19 Arts. a major publication for dealers and collectors as well as scholars of African
5. For an exhibition organized ).
arou nd the themes of commerce, civilization, art, are testimony to the fact that the marriage between scholars, collectors, and
r- Kris L, Hardin a11d Mary Jo Arnoldi
24 ❖
Introduction ❖ 25
. y one, current discussions about whether 110
?ealei:5 1s not always at 11~~~te object descriptions for the catalogues ofo: ,t It
1s ethical for scho~a~, 0, and Sotheby's provide further evidence that ti uc11on Barley, Nigel
t 982 Placing the West African potter. In Earthenware in Asia and Africa. John
houses sue~ as C nsue ~panding market for African objects is still a hotl1e role
Picton. ed. 12:93- 105.
of scholars 111 an ever-ex Y con.
tested Issue. Ka"' write that •power ts· an essenua· I eIement in cultu 1 Ben-Amos, Paula (Girshick) ').iq-
. rens an ,, . • (A dK ra re 1975 Proles~ionals and amateurs in Benin coun carving. In African Images: Es- ;Jf.
14 Aused to dproduce structure and acuo?
sources rens ~n arp _1989:xxiv). · says in African lconology. Daniel F. McCall and Edna G. Bay, eds. 70-89.
. There are, o! course, notable exccpnons to thts generalization, See f New York: Alricana Publishing Co.
15 ' Nigel Barley's (1982) references .to ceramic production and chan ~~
example ' or 1976 'A la rechcrche du temps perdu ': On being an ebony-carver in Benin. ln
Ray Silverman's work on Bono brass cas11ng (1986) . Ethnic and Tourist Arts. Nelson H. H. Graburn, ed. 320-333. Berkeley:
. H d'on Western catego.
16. There are several notable exceptions to the emphasis University of California Press.
ries. Warren and Andrews (1977) on Akan aest hencs, ar m ( 1988, 19 )
93
1984 Royal art and ideology in 18th century Benin. Iowa Studies in African Art. t
Kono categories of production, Ben-Amos (1976, 1984) on equivalences am on Christopher Roy, ed. l :67-86.
the color red, coral beads, and bronze sculpted heads and the ways that thong 1989 African visual arts from a social perspective. African Studies Review 32: l-
equivalences relate both to the nature o[ power in Benin and to technical ese 54.
cesses, and Fernandez (I 977) on the shared principles which inform Fang pro-
.I d .1 . 1 f h . mate- Biebuyck, Daniel
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17. Igor Kopytoll first used the notion of "life history· in conjunctio .
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1972 Outline of a Theory of Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Cannizzo, Jeanne
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