{"id":784,"date":"2018-02-28T01:00:12","date_gmt":"2018-02-28T01:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/bright-continent\/?post_type=chapter&p=784"},"modified":"2020-07-14T21:22:30","modified_gmt":"2020-07-14T21:22:30","slug":"chapter-3-2-coupling-up","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.ulib.csuohio.edu\/bright-continent\/chapter\/chapter-3-2-coupling-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 3.2 Coupling Up"},"content":{"raw":"[caption id=\"attachment_1331\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"700\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 184. These four combs were intended as love gifts. Clockwise, upper left: Fante or Asante male artist, Ghana, late 19th or early 20th century. H 9.25\". Dallas Museum of Art, 1981.174. Gift of Henry H. Hawley III. Public domain. Upper right: Akan male artist, Ghana, early 20th century. H 17 3\/8\". Detroit Institute of Arts, 2016.139. Gift of Dr. Nii and Martina Y. Quarcoopome. Public domain. Lower right: Akan male artist, Ghana, late 19th or early 20th century. H 7.87\". \u00a9 Trustees of the British Museum, Af1986,17.141. Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 4.0<\/a>. Lower left: Asante male artist, Ghana, late 19th or early 20th century. H 12.25\". Brooklyn Museum, 74.217.6. Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Willi Riese to the Jennie Simpson Educational Collection of African Art. Creative Commons-BY<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nThe image of the male-female couple is fairly common in African art. Some couple images represent twins rather than mates, but this chapter explores the former. These do not usually depict specific individuals, but represent a basic adult social unit, a foundation of community. In life, courtship or arranged marriage produces couples.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1338\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 185. This necklace, made by a young woman for a man, has four beaded \"love letters\" as well as a larger flap. Blue is often associated with fidelity and an inverted triangle usually signifies a bachelor. Zulu, South Africa, late 19th century. Mus\u00e9e du Quai Branly, 70.2014.7.1.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nWhile these events are not\u00a0depicted in traditional art, there are traditional art forms that support both processes. Among the Akan of Ghana, for\r\n\r\nexample, until recently an elaborate decorative comb served as a typical courtship gift (Fig. 184). Its imagery might be generic or pointed--sometimes referring to a defeated suitor, for instance, or including visual notes that signified the would-be husband would be a good provider. Even after marriage, a woman might keep her gifts from old admirers, most of which were meant for display rather than practical use, for they tend to be too large for a comfortable fit in the hand. Wives might additionally receive combs from their husbands after marriage to mark special occasions\u00a0such as the birth of a child.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1377\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"202\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 186. This mange<\/em>, made by a Nupe woman, was afterward taken to a brass smith who added metal repouss\u00e9 plating. Nigeria, mid-20th century. H 15.75\". Courtesy Cincinnati Museum of Art,\u00a01990.18.\u00a0Gift of the Ellis H. and Doris B. Robinson Foundation[\/caption]\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1333\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"210\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 187. This Nupe mange<\/em> was made by a Nupe woman but painted by a Nupe man in a way that ignores the incised geometric patterns with which the potter decorated its surface. H 15.55. Afrika Museum Berg en Dal, AM-422-9. From the Congregatie van de Heilige Geest. Creative Commons\u00a0CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>; photo trimmed.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nYoung Zulu women, as well as their counterparts in neighboring ethnic groups, create courtship gifts for young men they fancy. With these they indicate their interest without conversation. These beaded rectangles, usually called \"love letters\" in English are fairly small, although they may be duplicated to form a necklace (Fig. 185). Although the colors and symbols used by the potential girlfriends and brides have meanings, they are generational and also vary from area to area. Young men may have to have their sisters or mothers help them interpret the meaning and can wear as much beadwork as their female admirers\u00a0can supply until they make an arrangement to marry.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1346\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"450\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 188. A Christian wedding party before 1912. In Robert H. Milligan, Fetish Folk of West Africa. New York: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1912, facing p. 283. Public domain.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nWedding gifts related to a new household were popular. In the past, one such standard gift for Nupe brides were\u00a0terracotta pots. Often these, too, were kept unused, but for a different reason. Bowls, cooking pots, and water containers for daily use were one thing, but wedding gifts were kept aside. Not only did their display constitute a formidable statement about bridal popularity, but the unused pottery could be sold in future if immediate cash was needed. One popular wedding gift was the mange<\/em>, a\u00a0 smallish, narrow-necked pot for water or palm wine (Fig. 186). In the early part of the 20th century, gifts to princesses or other wealthy women might include flat brass ornamentation on\u00a0the outside. By the 1960s, wedding guests would buy them from a potter,\u00a0then take them to a male specialist who would paint them (Fig. 187).\u00a0\u00a0By the\u00a0late 20th century, such gifts were considered hopelessly old-fashioned, replaced\u00a0by imported Chinese enamel lidded bowls and\u00a0casseroles.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1335\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 189. Princess Theresa first married at a Catholic ceremony at Holy Cross Cathedral (above), then came to the palace, cut an elaborate architectural cake, and changed her clothes for her traditional ceremony (below). Photos by D. Anthony Mahone, Benin City, Nigeria, 1994.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1351\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"427\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 190. This Igbo woman's elaborate hairstyle would have prevented her from carrying loads on the head. Awka, Nigeria, early 20th c. From The Secret Museum of Mankind<\/em>. New York: Manhattan House, n.d., n.p. [p. 119].[\/caption]Weddings themselves were and are major family occasions, open to all regardless of invitation. While in the past such celebrations followed traditional law and custom (which usually required \"bride price\"--a requisite gift that varied from one region to another, but might include livestock, alcoholic drinks, foodstuffs, or cash), contemporary couples often have both a traditional ceremony and a \"white wedding\"--that is, a wedding with a Western-style wedding gown for the bride, and a suit and white\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1352\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"260\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 191. This wedding cape was beaded by a Zulu bride. South Africa, ca. 1970s. Cotton trade cloth, glass beads, fiber. 38 \u00d7 33.5\". \u00a9 Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 2013.731. Gift of William D. Roth and Norma Canelas Roth. Creative Commons CC-BY-NC<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n\r\ngloves for the groom. Although this adoption of custom began with Christian converts in the late 19th\/early 20th century (Fig. 186), it has\u00a0become very widespread even among non-Christians. Even brides from the most traditional of families may stagger a church ceremony with a traditional one, as occurred in Nigeria's Benin Kingdom in 1994, when the Oba's eldest daughter Princess Theresa wed in the Catholic\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1353\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"346\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 192. Zulu man in marriage attire made by his bride. South Africa, early 20th century. Mus\u00e9e du Quai Branly, PP0150914.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nHoly Cross Cathedral, then shed her gown for traditional attire in a palace celebration (Fig. 189).\u00a0The Oba of Benin's\u00a0two oldest daughters have special weddings, receiving many gifts of beads from their father on the palace dais. Although many Benin brides wear their hair in a beehive-like wedding style imitation of the queens, the Princess could not do so because one of her privileges as the eldest daughter was a coral-beaded headband. This is normally part of chiefly regalia; she, her next youngest sister, and her grandmother (the Oba's mother) are the only Edo women allowed to wear it.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1354\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 193. Zulu bride and groom. South Africa, 2017. Single frame from MzansiMagicOfficial \"Our Perfect Wedding: 26 March 2017.\"<\/a>[\/caption]\r\n\r\nAlthough high-status versions of traditional wear constitute wedding wear among many African couples, sometimes specific hairstyles or clothing are worn only at the wedding, or during the period immediately following it. Wedding coiffures are usually a female practice, and often used to involve a crest (Fig. 190), since this precluded carrying loads on the head. Avoidance of carrying water or firewood was acceptable and encouraged only for the wedding\u00a0and labor-free honeymoon periods; sometimes it was reprised during a first pregnancy as well.\u00a0Certain attire is worn specifically for a wedding in some regions, although this is a fluid tradition\u00a0that follows its own stylistic changes.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1356\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"350\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 195. This door, carved by a Yoruba male sculptor from Iseyin, Nigeria, features a couple having sex as its central motif. H 51.18\". Afrika Museum Berg en Dal, AM-555-1.\u00a0Creative Commons\u00a0CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nZulu brides of the late 20th century, for example,\u00a0transformed cotton blankets with imported glass seed beads, creating\u00a0splendid (if heavy) multi-colored garments (Fig. 191).\u00a0In the early 20th century, Zulu grooms wore complex beaded attire created by their brides, dance shields in hand (Fig. 192), and today what appears\u00a0\"traditional\" follows neither of these patterns (Fig. 193).\u00a0Instead, what was\u00a0once a red-ochred\u00a0flared hairstyle for married women--not brides--became a wig and then a red hat is transformed for a wedding into a leopard copy of the same form, in line with the groom's attire, but with an attached beaded veil. Earlier in this 2017 ceremony, the bride wore a white, Western-style gown before changing. Beadwork, however, did not form a major part of either newlywed's attire.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1355\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"400\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 194. This mirror case (its cover is closed) was probably made as a wedding gift by a Yoruba male artist. Nigeria, early 20th century. H 9.84\". Afrika Museum Berg en Dal, AM-535-7. Formerly Congregatie van de Heilige Geest (CSSp.). Creative Commons\u00a0CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>.<\/span>[\/caption]\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1391\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"400\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 196. This door lock, made by a Bamana male sculptor, takes the form of a woman. Mali, 20th century. H 17.32\". Afrika Museum Berg en Dal, AM-41-20. Formerly in the collection of the Congregatie van de Heilige Geest (CSSp.). Creative Commons CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nThe sanctioned union created by a wedding is meant to produce children, and occasionally the act of procreation is depicted. Yoruba mirrors with carved frames and covers--a common gift in the early 20th century--occasionally featured the image of a copulating couple (Fig. 194). This was not meant to be a particularly erotic image, but instead a type of visual encouragement to fruitfulness. The motif can show up outside the context of weddings, appearing as one of the carvings on the border of a divination tray or even on a high-status door (Fig. 195), speaking to issues of fertility and sexual health, but also to the matter-of-fact truth that sex is a part of daily life and the continuance of life requires both genders' cooperation. It can be both licit and illicit, the latter potentially creating problems of some magnitude.\u00a0Magun<\/em>, for example, is a well-known type of Yoruba medicine intended to punish unfaithful women and their lovers; secretly applied to a woman by her husband, it\u00a0makes\u00a0adulterers unable to disengage after coitus.\u00a0A diviner or a ritual specialist may have to find a solution for the kinds of frictions and quarrels produced by extramarital sexual activity.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1360\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"450\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 197. This mask, made by an Ejagham artist in southeastern Nigeria before 1911, further differentiates the male-female Janus faces. Not only are they distinguished by skin color, their browlines are contrasted--a sharp, angular, keeled brow for the male, a smooth rounded curve for the female. Their temple scarifications differ--hers are round, his are square, his squinting, hers open. In addition, the male has a beard made from actual human hair--a very rare occurrence in African art. H 15.35\". \u00a9 Trustees of the British Museum, Af1911,1016.1. Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 4.0<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1773\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"340\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 198. Two architectural post by a Tsogho male artist, Gabon, 20th century. H 5.45'. Mus\u00e9e du Quai Branly, 71.1961.120.147.1-2. Gift of Jacques Millot.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nAlthough erotic subject matter is fairly rare in traditional African art (though not uncommon in 20th-century neotraditional art made for foreigners), recognition of sexuality and its place in marriage certainly exists. Door locks for the Bamana of Mali (Fig. 196) acted as common wedding gifts--the brides' parents often provided her with a figurative male lock and a door, while a wife often gave her husband a lock in the form of a female figure. no matter the gender of the figure, the lock itself was considered feminine, while the horizontal bar was masculine, and sometimes took a phallic form. The movement of the bar's slide action during locking and unlocking was conceived of as intercourse, evidence of the created \"couple.\"\r\n\r\nThe appearance of a male-female couple can stress the complementarity of the sexes, rather than a husband-wife pairing. While the dual appearances of genders speak to an equivalency of existential value, it does not necessarily translate into societal equality.\r\n\r\nSome skin-covered helmet masks or crests from southeastern Nigeria's Cross Rivers region depict Janus heads or four heads, splitting the genders represented. Although facial features are often styled similarly, the female is usually shown with light skin, while the male has considerably darker skin (see example at Pitt-Rivers Museum, Oxford<\/a>). Some examples have different hairstyles that further clarify whether they are male and female, while others do not. Sometimes the facial scarification differentiates them. Information regarding their meaning is scarce. Different men's societies wore them for a variety of functions, including funerals. Are they, in essence, the ideal man--a warrior--and the ideal woman--a nubile graduate of the fattening house? It's impossible to say with any certainty. Occasionally one will include two females with one man or other idiosyncratic features (Fig. 197), but dual faced normally speak to the male-female pair\u00a0as the basis of society.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1772\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 199. This unusually asymmetrical mask bears a couple. Eastern Pende male artist, Democratic Republic of Congo, 19th century. H 15.75\". Brooklyn Museum, Museum Expedition 1922, Robert B. Woodward Memorial Fund, 22.1690. Creative Commons-BY.<\/a>[\/caption]\r\n\r\nThat the concept of the pair shows completeness is visible in many of the continent's art forms. Architectural features may refer to the couple (Fig. 198), masquerades may contain images of complementary genders (Fig. 199), or figurative sculpture may represent the pair.\u00a0Marriage is considered one of the benchmarks of adulthood. Even today, it is nearly unthinkable for a person of prominence seeking a government or corporate appointment to be unmarried. This often occurs in art as well, with deities and ancestors frequently shown with spouses. The southern\u00a0Bamana of the region around Banan and Baninko, for example,\u00a0have a fertility cult known as Gwan. Its shrine includes a multitude of figures that revolve\u00a0around a seated female with a child, known as Gwandusu.\u00a0Her male consort\u00a0Gwanjaraba, however, must also be\u00a0present, even though he,\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1362\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 200. Although both of these figures were made by Bamana male sculptors and were displayed in Gwan fertility shrines, they were neither made by the same artist nor part of the same shrine. Left, H 51\". Mali, early 20th century. The Detroit Institute of Arts, 2003.66. Museum Purchase, African Oceanic and New World Cultures Art General Fund, Ralph H. Booth Bequest Fund, Mary Martin Semmes Fund, Joseph H. Parsons Fund and partial gift of Dr. Werner Muensterberger. Public domain. Right, Mali, 16th-19th century. H 35 3\/8\". The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1983.600a, b. Gift of John and Evelyn Kossak, The Kronos Collections, in honor of Martin Lerner, 1983. Public domain.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nlike the baby, is there only to show she is a \"completed woman\" (Fig. 200). Women seeking a child promise to name the outcome of a successful offering after the figures. In works made for the same shrine by the same artist, he can be smaller than his \"wife,\" and is sometimes not frontal nor\u00a0seated, both indications he has less status and dignity.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1364\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"400\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 201. These two town ancestral figures carved by an Igbo male artist have prominent navels, indicative of lineage ties, and cosmetic uli<\/em> body paint decorates their torsos and necks. The male figure wears a loincloth, the female wears waist beads. Nigeria, photo taken before 1939, perhaps by\u00a0 J. St\u00f6cker.\u00a0\u00a9 Trustees of the British Museum, Af,B54.12. Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 4.0<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nAmong the Igbo of southeastern Nigeria, town shrines contained significantly large sculptures of town founders. These community ancestors were remembered more as mythical than as historical figures. They, too, are represented in pairs, accompanied by supporters. Males and females are counterparts of one another, their relative heights reflecting common gender height disparities, rather than a hierarchical\u00a0relationship (Fig. 201).\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1330\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"375\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 202. Work by the Chamba male artist Soompa (active 1920s - 1940s), Nigeria. H 21.25\". Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond,\u00a02005.77.\u00a0Gift of Robert and Nancy Nooter.\u00a0Creative Commons\u00a0CC-BY-NC<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_2532\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"309\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 203. This edan<\/em> Ogboni pair shows the titled female Erelu with her symbolic spoon, her male partner holding another pair of linked edan<\/em> Ogboni. Yoruba male artist, Nigeria, 20th century. Courtesy of Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, 2002.39.3. Gift of Rod McGalliard.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nMarriage's creation of a unit is sometimes explicit. A Nigerian sculpture by the Chamba male artist Soompa depicts husband and wife sharing a common lower garment and one pair of legs (Fig. 202). Equivalent in size, the shape of their crested hairstyles\u00a0is one of their clearest differences. Primary and secondary sexual traits are alluded to, but not emphasized. Instead, their similarities are stressed: elongated cylindrical torsos and necks, as well as identical geometricized facial features.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1373\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"400\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 204. This is a fairly rare example of a complex wood sculpture from the hands of an Asante male artist. Ghana, 19th or 20th century. Afrika Museum Berg en Dal, AM-125-2. Formerly part of the collection of the Congregatie van de Heilige Geest (CSSp.).\u00a0Creative Commons\u00a0CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>.<\/span>[\/caption]\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1375\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"600\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 205a. Male Dogon artist, Mali, 19th century. H 28.75\". Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1977.394.15. Gift of Lester Wunderman; 1977. Public domain.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nSimilarly, Yoruba\u00a0edan<\/em>, metal figures that act as the emblem of the Ogboni (also known as Oshugbo) Society, a group that used to perform judicial and punitive activities in each Yoruba kingdom, equated male and female forms in key ways (Fig. 203). While their primary and secondary sexual characteristics are designated, they are played down--the figures have similar body contours, facial features,\u00a0and hairstyles. They are literally joined by a metal chain; Ogboni members place the figures on their chest, chain at the back of the neck, when carrying out official duties. Although women cannot take an active role in Ogboni until they are post-menopausal, their importance and powers at that age are seen as equivalent to those of men, and their visual complementarity is sometimes even more extreme--a jawline border often acts as a stylized beard on both figures, a reminder that some post-menopausal women have (albeit limited) facial hair. Scholars may dispute the identity of the figures--Ogboni founders? representatives of the androgynous duality of the deified female Earth?--but suggest that efficaciousness of any significance necessitates the complementary and interdependent principles represented by a male-female pairing. In a sense, the edan<\/em> Ogboni is a symbolic equivalent of the Taoist taijitu<\/em> emblem representing the principles of yin<\/em> and yang<\/em>.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1381\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"600\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 205b. Reverse of Fig. 205a. Male Dogon artist, Mali, 19th century. H 28.75\". Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1977.394.15. Gift of Lester Wunderman; 1977. Public domain.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nThe visual expression of male-female interdependence transcends any particular couple to become a philosophical construct of gender complementarity. It is expressed in many representations of the couple as a kind of archetype, rather than merely individuals who physically interact. Symbolic unity can be achieved by sharing the same seat, a practice that does not occur in everyday life. In an Asante sculpture (Fig. 204), two figures share a stool--a physical impossibility given the size of these seats. Unfortunately, the object was collected without information. Is this a representation of a married couple, demonstrating their unity? While that might be a logical assumption in some parts of the continent, it is unlikely for the Asante. Most stools are extremely personal, and no one except the owner would ever use a given example. There are, however, state stools that act as thrones, and the Asante and other Akan peoples speak of the enstooling of a ruler or of inheriting the stool. To show a couple sharing a stool may indicate that we are seeing a ruler and a Queen Mother, either the ruler's actual mother or a designated female relative who acts as a stand-in if she is deceased. Queen Mothers are influential, not only dispensing advice but instrumental in the selection of a new ruler. Perhaps this couple--the female shown slightly taller than the male--represents mother and son, but it is impossible to verify without further information.\r\n\r\nA Dogon male artist from Mali produced one of the best-known African representations of the couple (Fig. 205a,b). Like the Asante couple in Fig. 204, the male and female figures share\u00a0a stool. Their hairstyles differentiate them, but otherwise their genders are played down for a more androgynous effect. While the woman has breasts, they are not overlarge, and the male's chest protrudes as a solid form in a complementary fashion. Some facial features--arrow-like nose, eyes with metal inserts--are identical. While the male's mouth is larger, the female's has a similar amorphous shape. The verticality of her labret is a counterpart to his beard. While their genitalia varies, and the male's gesture draws attention to the concept of procreation, their body silhouettes replicate one another--his shoulders are no wider, her figure does not nip in at the waist nor flare\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1383\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"550\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 206. This couple, carved by a Dogon male carver now called the Barnes Foundation Master, was produced in Mali in the late 19th\u2013early 20th century. H (sculpture without the base made by Inagaki) 27 3\/8\".\u00a0 Courtesy the Barnes Foundation<\/a> A197.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1385\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 207. A Dogon male artist carved this stool in Mali at\u00a0some point in the first half of the 20th century. H 14.25\". Photo by Paul Hester. Courtesy The Menil Collection, X 2071<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nout at the hips. A symphony of repeated cylinders, they neither mirror actual human forms nor are distinguished from one another. In this, they are similar to the\u00a0Igbo, Chamba, Yoruba, and Asante pairs already examined. The essence of their message remains complementarity, which is borne out by the vocational symbols on their backs: man as provider, indicated by his quiver, woman as nurturer, symbolized by her child.\r\n\r\nThe link between these figures is made manifest not only by the stool, but by physical touch--the man's arm rests across the woman's shoulders, creating a strong horizontal that echoes those of the stool's base and seat. Traditional African art rarely portrays eye contact or touch, even in depictions of husband and wife. Is this an ordinary husband and wife? We do not know the function of this object or similar Dogon pairs--for this is not a unique object (See Fig. 206)--because they have not been made or used since the early 20th century. While these examples are similar in many respects, there are other analogous pieces whose facial style is vastly different or that lack the caryatid stool.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1387\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"400\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 208. This terracotta sculpture, made by an Igbo female artist from the Western Igbo village of Osisa, depicts a successful titled man surrounded by household members. A brazier rests in front of the male, yams roasting inside; roasted yams are a focus of the Igbo New Yam festival. Nigeria, before 1880. H 18.5\". A work by the same hand is in the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh. \u00a9 Trustees of the British Museum, Af1951,01.1.\u00a0Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 4.0<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nWere they personal objects owned by individuals, sculptures belonging to the extended family's shrine, works on the shrine of the hogon<\/em>, the village priestly leader? Were they displayed at the funerals of prominent men or used in a completely different context? Both pairs illustrated here show the couple seated on a stool with figurative caryatids; this refers to the kind of stool only the hogon<\/em> owned (Fig. 207). Scholars have often referred to the supporting figures as nommo<\/em>, primordial ancestral beings who brought agriculture to the Dogon and create rainfall. According to a group of French scholars headed by the late Marcel Griaule, such stools are models of the cosmos, the seat representing the sky connected by a central tree (a post) to the base, the earth. That the couple sits upon such a stool both conveys leadership associations and suggests an identity out of the ordinary--that of the primordial couple, or first human beings. Is that indeed their identity? Religious discontinuities since the early 20th century prevent any certainty concerning the exact meaning and function of these and similar works. Despite our ignorance regarding this key information, the object's imagery does convey key cultural ideas regarding male and female interdependence, equivalent\u00a0value, and\r\n\r\ndivergent social roles.\r\n\r\nAlthough polygamy is not uncommon in Africa--particularly among the wealthy--it has rarely been the subject of traditional art. The couple alone can represent the complementarity of the sexes and convey information about roles. A few traditional pieces do address multiple wives, however, as do some contemporary works.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1389\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"385\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 209. This 19\" Ifijioku terracotta sculpture, made by an Igbo woman from Osisa, Nigeria, is part of a group collected in the 1880s. It includes a man and his two wives--one pregnant, the other holding a toddler. 1892. From Harry Alis and Edouard Charton, eds., \"Voyage dans l'Adamaoua; par le Lieutenant de Vaisseau L. Mizon.\" Le Tour du Monde: Nouveau Journal des Voyages<\/em> 64 (No. 1657-1659, 1892): 232. Now in the National Museum, Lagos. Public domain.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1393\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 210. This puppet ensemble, made by a Bamana male sculptor, could be made to move through the action of now-missing strings. The \"theater\" for this open-air cheko<\/em> perfomance was a huge cloth animal that hid the performers; puppet vignettes were located on its back and sides. Mali,1994. H 29.52\".Tropenmuseum\u00a0TM-5566-5.\u00a0Creative Commons CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>.<\/span>[\/caption]\r\n\r\nA small group of late 19th-century Igbo terracotta sculptures places the male head of household at the center of a dense figurative cluster. With their masterful handling of surface patterning, these sculptures attest to the skills of a single village, for they were all collected from Osisa, an Ndokwa\u00a0Igbo community on the west bank of the Niger River. The family head is (Fig. 208) usually flanked by two wives with a carved ivory tusk in his left hand--a reference to his high status as a titleholder--while a member of his entourage beats out a rhythm on an iron gong. He and his wives hold fans; his imported hat also attests to his high position, as do their elaborate hairstyles. Fecundity is underscored; one wife holds a baby to her breast, while some other examples (Fig. 209) show one wife pregnant, the other with a child. The chickens in these works await their fate as sacrificial offerings; the objects were apparently altars dedicated to Ifejioku, the god of yams, the Igbo farming and culinary specialty. Today shrines to Ifejioku (\"Ifijioku\" in other Igbo areas; a male deity in the Ndokwa region) are small marked-off areas of the ground that support a wooden stake. \u00a0Human and plant fertility are inextricably linked, and wives, children, and retainers are testaments to the success of a wealthy farmer.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1394\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"193\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 211. This photo probably represents a man with two wives; their identical dress is meant to demonstrate he treats both wives identically, as the Koran commands. Photo by. H. Danel. Djenne, Mali, ca. 1904. Public domain.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nSome artworks refer to polygamy without the physical presence of the husband (Fig. 210). While the image of two women pounding food in a mortar together might depict any two women--mother and daughter, sisters, mother and daughter-in-law--it is usually interpreted as an image of co-wives. A metaphor for smooth cooperation, since a rhythmic alternation of strokes is necessary, such images can speak to the ideal polygamous family, where all members coexist in harmony. When sculptures are part of a performance, however, as these puppets are, the pestles sometimes become weapons as the women's rivalry is made manifest.\u00a0Jealousy among\u00a0co-wives is common.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1502\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 212. In this compound, a man and his wife or wives each dwell in a separate house. Senufo, near Banfora, Burkina Faso, 2009. Photo by Rita Willaert. Creative Commons CC BY-NC 2.0<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nAmong\u00a0West African Muslim families, men are supposed to avert it as\u00a0much as possible by purchasing their\u00a0wives the same items, and when these are worn at the same\u00a0time,\u00a0the ideal is achieved, if only\u00a0for a moment (Fig. 211).\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1643\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"400\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 214. This figural group shows two European couples at the table, one of many works Ona made that note non-Yoruba behavior on the part of British spouses.\u00a0The figures, chairs,\u00a0and table are all carved from one piece of wood, but the supports,\u00a0plates, dish, jug and pith helmets are separately carved and attached.\u00a0Thomas Ona Odulate. Yoruba male artist, Nigeria, ca. 1940. H 8.25\". Tropenmuseum,\u00a0TM-3441-8. Creative Commons\u00a0CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1656\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"500\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 213. Neckrests were once more widespread as sleeping supports, but are still found in some parts of southern and eastern Africa. Double neckrests like this are far less common. Zulu male artist, South Africa, before 1920. MAS (Museum aan de Stroom), Antwerp, AE.3726. Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nIn actual domestic settings, household arrangements for husband and wife tend to follow patterns of gender separation. Traditional housing--except for very poor urban dwellers--usually ensures husband and wife or wives have their own houses within a compound (Fig. 212). While a double neckrest (Fig. 213) attests to the incomplete nature of domestic separation, double beds in most women's houses or rooms are usually meant to be shared with their children, not their spouses. Urban homes in traditional forms, such as those in Djenne, Mali or in Nigeria's Hausa cities,\u00a0usually site the women's quarters in the compound interior, so that the husband's room has a street or entry view, and passage into the interior of the household is restricted to family or close friends. This has even carried over to modern styles of houses and apartments--as long as it is affordable, a husband and wife\/wives will each have their own room. Wealthy men may provide separate dwellings--sometimes in different towns--for their wives.\r\n\r\nObservations of modernity and its impact on couplehood have impacted some artists. Each region has its own standards for one gender's behavior toward the other, but a degree of separation is common, as is avoidance of affection in public. Early in the 20th-century sculptors began to record the\u00a0odd couple behavior of foreign colonials, who ate together at a table (Fig. 214), walked with their arms around each other, or even kissed in public, all evidence of unmannerly behavior. Later responses to modern couplehood--African and foreign alike--attracted artists' eyes (Fig. 215) as the impact of European influence--through direct\u00a0observation, film and television productions--appeared.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1645\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"1024\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 215. This mural by Cheri Samba decorates Matonge, Brussels' considerable expatriate Congolese community. Samba (his self-portrait is centrally located, wearing a striped shirt; his wife Philda is at right having her hair coiffed) takes note of casual male-female interactions among Belgians and Congolese, stressing interracial romance and public displays of affection via the two couples that flank him: a European man and an African woman kissing, and an African man and a European woman kissing.\u00a0Both women are dressed in revealing clothing and seem unconcerned about public groping. Photo by Finne Boonen, Brussels, Belgium, 2006. Creative Commons CC BY-SA 2.5<\/a>, cropped and color-adjusted.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n
\r\n

Further Reading<\/h3>\r\nArnoldi, Mary Jo. Playing with Time: Art and Performance in Central Mali<\/em>. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1995.\r\n\r\nBerns, Marla C. \"Art, history, and gender: women and\u00a0clay in West Africa.\"\u00a0The African Archaeological Review<\/em> 11 (1993): 129-148.\r\n\r\nCole, Herbert M. Icons: Ideals and Power in the Art of Africa<\/em>. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989.\r\n\r\nCole, Herbert M. and Chike C. Aniakor.\u00a0Igbo arts: community and cosmos<\/em>. Los Angeles:\u00a0<\/a>Museum of Cultural History, UCLA, 1984.<\/a><\/a>\r\n\r\nCurnow, Kathy. At Home in Africa: Design, Beauty and Pleasing Irregularity in Domestic Settings<\/em>. Cleveland, OH: The Galleries at Cleveland State University, 2014.\r\n\r\nEzra, Kate.\u00a0Art of the Dogon: Selections from the Lester Wunderman Collection<\/a><\/em>.\u00a0New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1988.<\/span>\r\n\r\nEzra, Kate. A Human Ideal in African Art: Bamana Figurative Sculpture<\/em>.\u00a0Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1986.<\/span>\r\n\r\nLaGamma, Alisa.\u00a0<\/em>Echoing Images: Couples in African Sculpture.<\/em> New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2004.<\/span>\r\n\r\nLawal, Babatunde. \"\u00c0 y\u00e0 gb\u00f3, \u00e0 y\u00e0 t\u00f3 : new perspectives on Edan \u00d2gb\u00f3ni.\" African Arts\u00a0<\/em><\/a>28 (1, 1995): 36-49.<\/a><\/a>\r\n\r\nNzei, Alexander Alezei. \"Women and Power: A Case Study of the Ndokwa-Igbo Speaking People West of Niger River, Nigeria.\"<\/a> M.Sc. Thesis, University of Nigeria, 1992.\r\n\r\nRoy, Christopher. \"Marriage and Eligibility.\" Art and Life in Africa<\/em> website<\/a>, University of Iowa.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n

Rites of Courtship, Ceremonial Displays of Wedded Bliss: The Nomadic Fulani of Northern Nigeria, Niger, and Neighboring Regions<\/h3>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1399\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"900\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 216. Two Fulani cattleherders. Photo by Thomas Arthur Manly Nash, Nigeria, 1940s. Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, 1998.304.5. 005. Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nWhile the Fulani people are spread out among many West African countries and are comprised of both settled and nomadic populations, two contiguous sub-groups of the latter engage in complex but contrasting courtship rituals. The cattle-herding Fulani who live in Nigeria, Benin Republic, and Cameroon, as well as those who live just north in Niger and Chad share a nomadic lifestyle and an interest in personal adornment through hairstyles, jewelry, makeup,\u00a0and dress, but are segregated by oral history pertaining to clan origins, and by self-perceived differences.<\/span>\r\n\r\nSome aspects of their lifestyle are visually\u00a0<\/span>distinguishable, and\u00a0<\/span>are particularly apparent during the courtship rituals when the personal beauty of both sexes is the subject of intense effort.\u00a0<\/span>As people who are often on the move when new grazing lands are required, their personal possessions tend to be lightweight--the matrimonial bed, mats, calabashes, and personal goods. Their creative efforts <\/span><\/span>therefore become self-directed; individuals themselves periodically become works of art, subject to critique.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1416\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"325\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 217. Fulani youth with one large earring and metal-wrapped braids, West Africa, ca. 1943. From a U.S. serviceman's WWII album, courtesy John Atherton. Creative Commons\u00a0CC BY-SA 2.0<\/a>.<\/span>[\/caption]\r\n\r\nNomadic Fulani in Nigeria, Benin Republic, Cameroon<\/strong>\r\n\r\nAmong those nomadic Fulani\u00a0who tend to move across a belt that includes northern and central Nigeria,\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1422\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 218. This Fulani youth from the Kano area wears a simple Hausa-made tunic designed for the Fulani over an imported shirt, his metal wrapped braids and single earring echoing the fashionable styles of 20 years before. Necklace styles had changed, however, Nigeria, 1963-1964. Photo by Jenny Griffin. Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, 2016.17.3. Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nas well as parts of Benin Republic and Cameroon, male fashions for those who are of courting age have varied considerably over time. Their everyday clothes are usually woven and tailored by the Hausa or are imported.\u00a0They often wear the straw hats of older men--domed, with a curly or straight brim (meant to accommodate a cylindrical cap and\/or turban underneath) or conical (though most conical examples are wide-brimmed) (Fig. 216).\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1405\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"900\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 219. This Sharo participant, laden with medicinal packets at the hips, over his leather apron, holds his mirror in his right hand as he awaits his blows. Fulani, Nigeria, 1944-1946. Photo by Dr. Joseph Denfield.\u00a0\u00a9 Trustees of the British Museum, Af,B47.17.\u00a0Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nThese Fulani youth are subject to changing concepts of the fashionable.\u00a0<\/span>Male accessories have included large single earrings (Fig. 217) that had some longevity (Fig. 218), but have long since been out of style, as well as changing jewelry at the neck, arms, and wrists made from beads, leather with brass accents, or imaginative repurposing of imports such as buttons or safety pins. Some males bear facial tattooing (Fig. 216 right), but it is a cosmetic elective rather than an ethnic marker, and is now predominantly a female practice in most regions.\u00a0On market days, when the often\u00a0isolated youths visit towns in the hope of\u00a0encountering Fulani girls, their dressing tends to be more elaborate than when they spend long periods with the cattle, sleeping in the rough.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1406\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"530\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 220. Cowrie shells decorate the hair of this Sharo participant, as well as the apron of one of the waiting spectators. He extends his leather-framed mirror in his right hand to demonstrate his unconcern at being beaten. Fulani, Nigeria, 1944-1946. Photo by Dr. Joseph Denfield. \u00a9 Trustees of the British Museum, Af,B47.16.\u00a0Creative Commons\u00a0CC BY-NC-SA 3.0<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nDressing is at its peak, however, at celebratory times.\u00a0The biggest occasion for more formal dress is the annual\u00a0celebration known\u00a0variously as Sharo, Soro,\u00a0Goja, or Shadi. Unmarried\u00a0youths called suka<\/em>, usually\u00a0in their mid to\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1408\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"400\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 221. This photo is inscribed \"The flogger and the flogged.\" Fulani, Nigeria, 1944-1946. Photo by Dr. Joseph Denfield.\u00a0\u00a9 Trustees of the British Museum, Af,B47.18. Creative Commons\u00a0CC BY-NC-SA 3.0<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nlate teens (although this stage can extend until the mid-twenties), meet in paired ritual combat with their\u00a0counterparts from another community (Fig. 219). Insults are traded by the participants, as well as by female spectators towards rival groups. One youth stands and is whipped by his opponents, often after some feints designed to provoke a reaction. Then, after a recovery period, the initial subject returns the favor. The whips are not leather, but supple tree branches, often with sharpened off-shoots meant to inflict greater damage, the whole prepared with medicine.\r\n\r\nThe most admired Sharo participants are those who not only show no pain--that is a given; revealing pain will alienate young women seeking husbands--but whose bodies even withstand flinching. The stars of the performance are those who admire themselves in a mirror while receiving blows (Fig. 220), especially if the mirror is held by one of their female\u00a0admirers. Welts and cuts are\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1413\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"750\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 222. This Fulani Sharo participant is sitting in a chair, unconcerned about the impending blow. Leather aprons--sometimes decorated with cowries, were still worn. Photo by Jenny Griffin, Kano region of Nigeria, 1963-1964. Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford,\u00a02016.17.4.\u00a0Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nbadges of honor (Fig. 221). Willingness to participate, ability to endure with grace even when taunted by girls of the opposing community, and the appearance of\u00a0diffidence at both the infliction and reception of pain is a key element of Fulani\u00a0pulaaku<\/em>, or \"Fulaniness.\" Endurance is a necessity for the hard life of a nomad, and Sharo underlines the way men face the blows of life.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1404\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"185\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 223. This Sharo participant wears an imported hat, shirt, trousers, and shoes. Fulani, Nigeria. Photo by Roger Blench. Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 3.0<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nSharo dressing has changed considerably in the past century. The 1940s saw suka\u00a0<\/em>wearing leather aprons over knee-length shorts, their braids clamped with metal; this remained standard until the 1960s, when they began slipping an abundance of white beads onto their multiple braids (Fig. 222). In the 1990s, copper wire acted like a second coiffure, haloing their heads. More recently headbands or imported hats of various types are a key feature, along with Western shoes and other attire (Fig. 223).\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1425\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"750\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 224. Fulani girls watching a performance outside of Kano, Nigeria, 1963-1964. These Fulani do not weave; all garments and accessories are bought from neighboring peoples or are imported market goods, though these may be further embellished or recombined in highly creative ways. Photo by Jenny Grffin. Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, 2016.17.7.\u00a0Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1445\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"900\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 225. These 21st-century Sharo participants wear a variety of Western hats and attire. Sharo frequently takes place twice a year; this performance is during a Muslim holiday. Bauchi, Nigeria, 2006. Photo by Munir Shields. Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 2.0<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nGaining the favor of girls is intrinsic to Fulani play, even long before the suka<\/em> stage is reached (Fig. 224).\u00a0At this stage of life, braids--alien to most of the Fulani's male African neighbors--are a must. Young women taunted a nomadic youth who had settled in town by saying, \"Are you not ashamed to walk around with this head of a farmer?\" The youth--Ndudi Umaru, a Jafun Fulani from Cameroon who narrated his autobiography--spoke of\u00a0suka\u00a0<\/em>preparations for the festival:\r\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \"A young suka<\/em> is completely preoccupied with his braids and with girls. He's never separated from his mirror and his bottles of perfume. He puts salves on his face. He drinks sour milk to which he has added certain powders which are supposed to make him attractive. From his magic belt, he hangs many flasks full of liquid ointments. And he certainly does not forget to obtain 'the medicine of courage' from his elders\" (Bocquen\u00e9,\u00a0 [1986] 2002, 120).<\/p>\r\nRewards for successful participants include\u00a0the admiration of peers, elders, and younger boys. The most sought-after result is female willingness to pledge love--innocent for young girls (though perhaps leading to marriage), conclusive for married women.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1433\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"391\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 226. This Sharo participant wears a boxing helmet and chest gear in a government-supervised Sharo display. Ill\u00e9la district, Niger, 2014. Single frame from\u00a0\u00a0\"Sharo 2014\"<\/a> by Boubacar Moustapha, 2015.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nThis endurance contest has been banned off and on in Nigeria, but it is unevenly enforced (Fig. 225). Occasionally rivalries flare up and floggers strike the head instead of the chest, resulting in death and front-page news. Stylized versions without actual blows are a part of some Nigerian state and national cultural festivals. In some parts of Niger, government intervention resulted not in a total ban of Sharo, but an adaption that introduced protective head and chest gear (Fig. 226). This is a considerable departure from remembered practices, but has introduced novel\u00a0costume elements that may have their own appeal.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n[embed]https:\/\/vimeo.com\/15119756[\/embed]\r\n\r\nNomadic Fulani in Niger and Chad<\/strong>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1443\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"400\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 228. Left: This pendant mirror at left, mounted in green leather with tassels, was made by a Tuareg female leatherworker for the Wodaabe. Niger, 20th century, private collection. Right: This mirror's back is decorated with cowrie shells, beads, buttons, zippers, and imported brass earrings. Wodaabe Fulani, Chad, 20th century. Mus\u00e9e du Quai Branly, 71.1973.45.65. :[\/caption]\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1440\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"512\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 227. Young Wodaabe Fulani man applying makeup for Gerewol festival. Agadez region, Niger, 1989. Photo by V\u00e9ronique Scott.Mus\u00e9e du Quai Branly,\u00a0PF0176002.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nThe nomadic Wodaabe Fulani live primarily in Niger, and also have a courtship ordeal of sorts. Known as Gerewol, it involves no physical blows, but puts male pride at stake. Endurance also plays a part in this festival, but in a different manner. Rather than the receipt and administration of physical blows, participants endure exposure to direct sun for most daylight hours during a week of continuous, repetitive dancing. Gerewol takes place far from towns at the end of the rainy season and involves large meetings of two clans. Like Sharo, Gerewol provides opportunities for courtship and marriage, as well as divorce and remarriage. Like all Fulani, the Wodaabe favor first cousin arranged marriages for their initial pairing, but subsequent spouses can be love matches. Polygamy is common and divorce carries no stigma for either spouse. During Gerewol, women may choose to dally with a handsome participant or elope with him.\r\n\r\nFulani appreciation for good looks is socialized at an early age, and small boys are encouraged to admire themselves in the mirror. Gerewol showcases the good looks and charms of young men, but takes these traits much further than those Fulani who practice Sharo. Most nomadic Fulani males and females use tozali<\/em> eyeliner\u00a0(ground from antimony, or, more dangerously, galena) on a daily basis--it not only darkens the eyes strikingly, it is said to cut glare and clear the eyes. At Gerewol, however, male participants use additional cosmetics to create an ideal appearance, and also pay careful attention to their clothing and accessories (Fig. 227). Despite rivalry, they assist each other in dressing and making aesthetic decisions. Adult mirrors are constantly at hand and checked regularly (Fig. 228).\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1444\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"900\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 229.\u00a0Wodaabe Fulani men performing a yaake<\/em> dance. Niger, 1997. Photo by Dan Lundberg. Creative Commons\u00a0CC BY-SA 2.0<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nOnce Gerewol commences, young men begin a series of daily preliminary dances called yaake<\/em>. Their preparations involve hair neatly braided by female relatives, the polishing of any brass ornaments, a careful choice of attire and accessories, and the application of facial makeup (Fig. 229). The Wodaabe favor a bright complexion, a long narrow face, a long nose, and bright whites of teeth and eyes.\r\n\r\nTo enhance their natural features and approach the ideal, men create a foundation from clays imported from Nigeria and one region of Niger. Not\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1448\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"500\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 230. Two Wodaabe dressed for yaake dances at Gerewol. Niger, 2006. Photo by NGR-2006-D020 Peace Corps. Public domain.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nonly do these yellows (makkara<\/em>) and reds (kooya<\/em>) allow them to paint an elongated face within a face--narrow and light--the clays themselves are believed to have inherent medicinal qualities that charm the opposite sex. After applying the base coat, a narrow white or yellow (or white on yellow) stripe is often added from the hairline down the nose, resuming again on the chin. This creates an optical illusion that further lengthens the face, sometimes enhanced by the plucking or shaving of the hairline, as well as the verticality of an ostrich feather stuck in the turban (Fig. 230). Small flowers or dots can be added to the cheeks as an additional embellishment. The eyes are then lined with a dark color, which is also applied to the brows and lips. This substance, which enhances contrast with white teeth and eyes, is also considered to be a medicine. Made from burnt cattle egret bones mixed with butter, this mystical preparation is meant to increase allure. Some Wodaabe use black pigments made from the inside of burnt batteries, and those in Chad have introduced a bright blue as a lipstick color.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1450\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"900\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 231. Wodaabe dancers of the Sudosukai clan. Chad, 2016. \u00a9 Oliver Lee, with permission.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1449\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"250\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 232. This nomadic Fulani amulet includes medicines that may be for protection, seduction, or aggression towards rivals. West Africa, 20th century. Mus\u00e9e du Quai Branly, 71.1990.11.14.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nInstead of their relatively plain tunics and short pants--or Western attire--young Wodaabe men drastically change their attire for Gerewol. During the yaake<\/em> dances they wear long open-sided tunics over pants, often with a leather apron visible at the side. In Niger, this attire consists of dark cloths woven by the Hausa and sometimes embroidered with colorful lines, while in Chad tunics are now frequently brighter, embellished with long sequinned or mirrored flaps, the pants with extensively embroidered panels added to the bottom. Chadian Wodaable fashion in recent years has also favored tall multi-colored caps with an abundance of sparkling elements, decorative braid, and yarn pom-poms (Fig. 231). In all regions, amulets are worn around the neck (Fig. 232) or attached to headgear, since rivals from within and without the lineage may try to sabotage a dancer. Medicines directed toward particular dancers are openly buried under the dancing ground in advance; a Wodaabe participant told Ndudi Umaru about other subterfuges, including iron suspended from a cord at one's back, which would flare out during a twirling step to hit a rival in the genitals, or ostrich plumes dipped in dry hot pepper that could be shaken before a rival, falling into his eyes.\r\n\r\nYaake\u00a0<\/em>is danced in a line. While it may not seem strenuous, as it involves stepping in place, spinning,\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1451\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"650\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 233. These young Wodaabe men, here wearing less makeup and wearing Hausa-style caftans, are backed by their turbanned sponsors. Gerewol ceremony at the Cure Salee festival near In-Gall, Niger, 2014. Creative Commons CC-BY 2.0<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nrising on the toes, and assuming\u00a0a shivering shoulder movement, it involves constant motion and song. Stylized grimaces show off the whites of the teeth, while eye widening and rolling likewise highlight the brightness and size of the eyes. Participants may break away from the line occasionally for a drink or to arrange a liaison, but they quickly return. They are critiqued for days and often subjected to the insults of old women from the opposing lineage, which they pretend not to hear.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1452\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"330\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 234. A young Wodaabe man dresses for the final performance in a Hausa-woven wrapper. Agadez region of Niger, 1989. Photo by V\u00e9ronique Scott. Mus\u00e9e du Quai Branly, PF0176003.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nMost Gerewol participants retire from the dance in their late 20s,\u00a0although some may continue into their 30s. They then assume\u00a0the role of a sponsor, coaching, grooming, and supervising their\u00a0favorite, exhorting him to excellence (Fig. 233). The\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1453\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"500\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 235. The tall Wodaabe man with the red sash was decided the winner at this Gerewol final performance. Photo by Dan Lundberg. Niger, June 1997. Creative Commons CC BY-SA 2.0.<\/a>[\/caption]\r\n\r\nexcitement of the ceremony is so extreme that small boys incorporate it in their daily play, rising on their toes and practicing the facial gestures to the encouragement of the elders.\r\n\r\nAfter days of dancing for hours in the heat, some men excuse themselves from the final performance, since only one man will be acclaimed the most perfect specimen, and the potential humiliation may be too much for some to bear. Older men consider body proportions, beauty, charm, and dancing skill, their selection made somewhat easier since much of the individuality of attire is stripped away. All dancers are now bare-chested except for beads, their turbans bearing identical animal tails or feathers, their\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1467\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"350\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 236. A teenage Wodaabe girl walks in measured fashion to the Gerewol performers, averting her face. She designates the most perfect example of Wodaabe manhood. Niger. Single frame from David Maybury-Lewis's 1992 series Millennium<\/em>.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nlower body swathed in a woman's wrapper that restricts movement (Fig. 234), each wearing an identical apron\u00a0topped by beaded strands (Fig. 235). When a consensus is\u00a0made as to the winner, the elders send a\u00a0young maiden with attendants forward to announce the winner. She walks in a stylized manner, her right arm languidly rising and falling (Fig. 236), her eyes avoiding the dancers' eagerness. She approaches, gestures toward the winner, and goes on her way. The selected youth is celebrated, his reputation enhanced.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1460\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"250\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 237. While this blouse and wrapper are made from Hausa cloth, they were tailored and decorated to Wodaabe taste. Blouse: Wodaabe, Niger, 20th century. Mus\u00e9e du Quai Branly, 71.1990.11.1.2. Wrapper: Wodaabe, Niger, 20th Century. Mus\u00e9e du Quai Branly, 71.1990.11.1.1.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nDuring the performance, many young and married women alike watch, assessing the performers and deciding if they will marry for the first time or leave their husbands. They too are dressed in their finest (Fig. 237), made from cloths woven by neighboring ethnic groups or imported textiles purchased in the market.\r\n\r\nMarried women have an aesthetic competition of their own, although it does not involve personal appearance. Instead, it is a curated display of their most precious possessions, calabashes arranged atop their Tuareg-constructed beds. These are not the calabashes women regularly use to transport milk, butter, fried cottage cheese and other specialties to regional markets, nor are they the ones used domestically to store or prepare foods. They are a combination of purchased examples and heirlooms, along with symbolic wedding gifts from mother and mother-in-law.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1462\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"850\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 238. From left, Nomadic Fulani calabash in the style of Bamenda or Adamawa, northwest Cameroon, before 1972, collected by Ren\u00e9 Dognin. Mus\u00e9e du Quai Branly, 70.2012.31.6; Nomadic Fulani calabash. Mayo-K\u00e9bbi region, Chad. Mus\u00e9e du Quai Branly, 71.1973.45.5; Nomadic Fulani calabash in the style of Bamenda or Adamawa, northwest Cameroon, before 1972, collected by Ren\u00e9 Dognin. Mus\u00e9e du Quai Branly, 70.2012.31.2; Nomadic Fulani calabash. Mayo-K\u00e9bbi region, Chad. Mus\u00e9e du Quai Branly, 71.1973.45.4.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1463\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"450\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 239. Wodaabe women display their calabashes publicly at Gerewol. Foudouk, Ingalls region, Niger, 2014. Single frame from Syydehaas Basel's \"Niger Foudouk Geerewol der Wodaabe Sept. 05.\"\u00a0https:\/\/vimeo.com\/97345287<\/a>[\/caption]\r\n\r\nWhile some Wodaabe women decorate their own calabashes--often with delicate linear patterns that resemble their facial tattoos--they also buy calabashes from the Hausa and other peoples whose markets they visit (Fig. 238). These lightweight gourd containers are carefully wrapped in fiber pads to prevent damage when the women pack up their household for donkey transport to a new camp.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1464\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"512\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 240. Preparations for a calabash display. Wodaabe Fulani near Zinder, Niger, 1989. Photo by V\u00e9ronique Scott. Mus\u00e9e du Quai Branly, PF0175995.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1466\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 241.\u00a0Kaakol<\/em> and other calabashes on display at Gerewol. Wodaabe Fulani at Foudouk, Ingalls region, Niger, 2014. Single frame from Syydehaas Basel's \"Niger Foudouk Geerewol der Wodaabe Sept. 05.<\/a>\"[\/caption]\r\n\r\nWodaabe women are not truly considered married until they bear a child. As soon as they are pregnant, they leave their husbands to return to their mother's house, where they deliver and remain until the child is weaned. They are not allowed to see their husband until the time of their return to set up a household, and that is when they receive a decorated calabash bundle (elletel<\/em>) from their mothers, and an even more grandiose one (kaakol<\/em>) from their mothers-in-law. Amulets are concealed within, and the kaakol is hung over the wife's bed; men are forbidden to touch elletel<\/em> or kaakol<\/em>. These calabash bundles mark a successful accession into approved adulthood, while the individual bowls speak to an individual's popularity (many were gifts) and taste.\r\n\r\nBoth bundled and gifted calabashes are displayed at Gerewol for the eyes of other women (Figs. 239, 240, 241), admiration directed not only to the number and exquisiteness of the objects themselves, but to the care in arranging them, often with cloth, dippers, spoons, and basketry covers. No winner is declared, nor does the opposite sex take an interest. They are for the eyes of their peers, a quieter statement of pride in appearance.\r\n\r\n[embed]https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=a2dY54aE1ec[\/embed]\r\n

\r\n

Further Reading<\/h3>\r\nBocquen\u00e9, Henri. Memoirs of a Mbororo: The Life of Ndudu Umaru: Fulani Nomad of Cameroon<\/em> [1986]. New York: Berghahn Books, 2002.\r\n\r\nBoesen, Elisabeth. \"Gleaming like the Sun: Aesthetic Values in Wodaabe Material Culture.\" Africa\u00a0<\/em>78 (4, 2008):\u00a0582-602.\r\n\r\nBovin, Mette. Nomads\u00a0<\/em>who Cultivate Beauty: Wodaabe Dances and Visual Arts in Niger<\/em>.\u00a0Uppsala, Sweden: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, 2001.<\/a><\/span>\r\n\r\nKratz, Corinne Ann. \"The case of the recurring\u00a0<\/span>Wodaabe:<\/span> visual obsessions in globalizing markets.\" African Arts<\/em>\u00a0<\/a>51 (1, 2018): 24-45.<\/a><\/a>\r\n\r\nLott, Dale F. and Benjamin L. Hart. \"Aggressive Domination of Cattle by Fulani Herdsmen and its Relation to Aggression in Fulani Culture and Personality.\"<\/a> Ethos <\/em>5 (2, 1977): 174-186.\r\n\r\nNational Geographic. \"Boy to Man<\/a>.\" 2007.\r\n\r\nvan Offelen, Marion with photographs by Carol Beckwith. Nomads of Niger<\/em>.\u00a0New York: H.N. Abrams, 1983.<\/span><\/a>\r\n\r\nPulaku Project<\/em><\/a>, 2010-2011.\r\n\r\nReed, L. N. \"Notes on Some Fulani Tribes and Customs.\" Africa<\/em> 5 (4, 1932): 422-454.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n

Baule Spirit Spouses of C\u00f4te d'Ivoire<\/h3>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1476\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"400\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 243. This wooden figure was carved by a Baule male sculptor in C\u00f4te d'Ivoire, probably in the early 20th century. H. 16.93\". Photo by Michel Wuyts. Collectie Stad Antwerpen, MAS, AE.1994.0003.0002. Creative Commons\u00a0CC BY-NC-ND 4.0<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1481\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"499\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 242. This wooden male figure was carved by a Baule male artist from C\u00f4te d'Ivoire, and collected by the Brooklyn Museum's 1922 expedition. H 14 15\/16. Brooklyn Museum, 22.1091. Robert B. Woodward Memorial Fund. Creative Commons-BY<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nWhile the male-female relationship as represented in art and life usually refers to a human pairing, this is not always the case. the\u00a0Baule people of C\u00f4te d'Ivoire believe that before anyone is born into this world, they experienced life in the spirit world. There they had a family--spouse and children--but, once born into the physical realm, they forget about this prior existence. Male or female, they grow up and marry. Some have contented adult lives, but others may show a tendency to have fertility problems or be otherwise troubled, often by a contentious human spouse. After a consultation, a diviner may inform the client that his or her problem is the result of their jealous, neglected spirit spouse. The usual solution is to have this spouse made manifest through a carving, keeping it privately in one's bedroom and offering sacrifices such as coins, perfume, eggs, or chalk to mollify it. Dreams--those of the human spouse, the diviner, or the carver--allow the spirit spouse to dictate his or her appearance through details of scarification, hairstyle, or stance.\u00a0One night a week is dedicated to the spirit spouse, with the expectation that erotic dreams will result.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1483\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"492\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 244. Wooden male figure carved by a Baule male sculptor, C\u00f4te d'Ivoire, late 19th\/early 20th century. H 19.75\" Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 2003.21.7. Gift of Julie and Babe Davis. Public domain.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1485\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 245. This spirit husband (blolo bian<\/em>) wears a cartridge band across his chest, and is attired in the shorts, shirt, long socks, and cap of tropical French forces. Baule male artist, C\u00f4te d'Ivoire, 20th century. H 15\". Brooklyn Museum, 1991.229.3. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Gerofsky. Creative Commons-BY<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nA man's spirit spouse figure (blolo bla<\/em>) or a woman's (blolo bian<\/em>) can serve as a source of comfort in the setting of a problematic human marriage, and as such have tended to depict the otherworld husband or wife as an idealized spouse. Within the 20th century, Baule ideas of what constituted an ideal husband or wife changed considerably, as the impact of French colonization and post-colonial shifts in the country impacted daily life.\r\n\r\nIn the late 19th century and first decade of the 20th, the ideal husband was an older, successful farmer. He was an established provider and might be indulgent if wealthy. Blolo<\/em> bian<\/em> from this period indicate age through a beard (Fig. 242), here carefully plaited. This particular example has facial features that echo those of some Baule masks: large, half-closed eyes, pronounced brows that join with the narrow line of an elongated nose, and a small mouth.\u00a0The lower body probably would have been partially covered by an actual loincloth. Although from approximately the same time period, a second male spirit spouse (Fig. 243) is clearly by a different artist. Because of ephebism, the face remains wrinkle-free and the well-developed calf muscles indicate vigor, yet it too depicts an elder, recognizable only by his neatly tied-off beard. The hair is carefully incised and dressed, and scarifications at the temple, neck, and torso beautify the body. A loincloth probably covered this figure as well. Head-to-body proportions are similar in both figures, as are their balance of rounded calves and buttocks.\r\n\r\nSome other early spirit husbands showed greater status by taking a seated pose (Fig. 244). Again, dignity and serenity are\u00a0stressed, the powerful calves belying an incipient belly\u00a0that demonstrates wealth. Like the other examples, the engraved lines that constitute the hair speak to careful grooming, and conjoined brows and nose demonstrate a tie to the art of other Akan peoples to the east.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1488\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"258\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 246. Spirit spouse (or nature spirit) dressed in flip-flops, shorts, and tank top. He wears a camera or amulet around his neck, which has the ringed effect common to Akan artwork further east. Baule male artist, C\u00f4te d'Ivoire, 20th century. H 18.9\".\u00a0Afrika Museum Berg en Dal,\u00a0AM-427-1. Formerly in the collection of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit (CSSp.).\u00a0Creative Commons CC BY-SA 4.<\/a>0; photo trimmed.<\/span>[\/caption]\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_2525\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"299\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 247. This spirit spouse is fashionably dressed, with the creased neck of attractiveness. She has already proved her fertility twice over, with one baby on the lap, the other on her back. H 16\". Baule ,male artist, Cote d'Ivoire, 20th century. Courtesy of Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, 1990.14.118. Gift of Rod McGalliard.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nAfter the French colonized the Baule area, many changes transpired, not least of which was a new economy. While farmers certainly remained good providers of nourishment, new desires arose as novelty goods from overseas appeared in the markets and shops. These were part of a new economy, an economy that required French currency for both acquisition of new types of imported goods and the payment of taxes. How to gain French currency? Trading with or working for the French. Interaction with these foreigners required knowledge of their language; the greatest financial opportunities came to those who could join their civil service, a profession that required education in foreign schools and subsequent literacy. One might not marry a civil servant with all of his accomplishments and benefits, but one's spirit spouse could be a man of such achievements.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_2526\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"950\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 248. These three views of a spirit wife (or nature spirit) emphasize her body scarifications and rounded muscles. Baule male sculptor, C\u00f4te d'Ivoire. H 14.17\". Mus\u00e9e du Quai Branly, 73.1963.0.115.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_2528\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"340\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 249. Blolo bla\u00a0<\/em>or asie usu<\/em> figure, made by a Baule male artist from C\u00f4te d'Ivoire, late 19th or early 20th century. H 17\". Mus\u00e9e du Quai Branly, 73.1994.7.1. Once in the collection of Maurice Vlaminck; gift of Jean Paul Barbier-Mueller.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nBy the 1920s and 1930s, many male\u00a0blolo<\/em> bian\u00a0<\/em>were representations of beardless younger men. Some wore elements of Western clothing, such as a pith helmet and suit, along with Baule facial scarifications. Forced conscription into the French military system In WWI and WWII also became a source of foreign exchange, and uniformed spirit spouses (Fig. 245) continued the trend toward spirit husbands with carved clothing. This continued into the 1950s and 1960s, expanding to include depictions of sportsmen (Fig. 246). Despite dramatic shifts in the ideal man, his grooming\u00a0continued to be a critical\u00a0factor. His earlier long hair and\u00a0intricate beard might be shorn, but the sharp cut-in part and stylish pompadour reflect updated desirability in a new era.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1497\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"359\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 250. This Baule spirit spouse (or nature spirit) is seated on a stool, according her additional respect. Baule male artist, C\u00f4te d'Ivoire, 20th century. H 9.8\".\u00a0 Photo and source: Raccolte Extraeuropee del Castello Sforzesco, Milan. Creative Commons\u00a0CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nFemale spirit spouses display far less variation over time. Although there are some examples from the 1960s on that show women with fashionable dresses or permed styles (Fig. 247), most female representations continued to show a nude woman, sometimes pregnant or breastfeeding, or simply alluding to her fertility by placing her hands on her abdomen (Fig. 248). Her hair is carefully dressed, her facial, neck, and torso scarifications precisely handled, and real beads sometimes ornament her (Fig. 249). The blolo bla<\/em>'s adherence to less-changing standards may speak to men's gender expectations from their wives, spirit or human (Fig. 250). Occasionally, however, a spirit female has appeared with a typewriter, speaking to her literacy, worldliness, and earning power.\r\n\r\nMore women have recourse to a spirit spouse than men, perhaps because fertility issues are most often attributed to them, or because polygamous homes present rivalry issues that can exacerbate spousal conflicts. Figures are intimately associated with their owners; they can become unimportant if they have not aided in solving the owner's problem, or if the owner dies.\r\n\r\nBaule sculptors also create figures that begin as virtually indistinguishable from spirit spouses, yet represent a completely different type of being from the supernatural world: nature spirits (asie<\/em> usu<\/em>). These are conceived of as extremely ugly beings from the bush, carved in an ideal form in order to flatter and placate them. These spirits dwell in the wild, but may maliciously attack those who interact (albeit unintentionally) with them--often hunters or farmers. They inflict illness or other problems and can even possess their human host. A diviner may pinpoint a client's problems to a nature spirit, and advise a \"portrait\" of the figure be created and honored. Analogous to spirit spouse figures, the nature spirit will communicate through dreams with artist, patron, or diviner what his or her desired appearance should be. It variously occupies its figure or its owner, who may become a diviner because of their accommodation of one another.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1499\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"350\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 251. This nature spirit pair shares a Baule chair, attesting to their unity and prestige. Painted figures became popular in the mid-to-late 20th century. Baule male artist, C\u00f4te d'Ivoire, 20th century. Photo by Amyas Naegele. Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 2.0<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nSpirit spouses are caressed, washed, and handled, their food offerings contained by plates or bowls. Nature spirits have sacrifices poured over them, and are rarely touched. Despite these different interactions and the resulting differences in patinas, without collection histories, it is virtually impossible to distinguish the figures of nature spirits and spirit spouses because of their treatment after collection. Early 20th-century French collectors preferred gleaming surfaces, and often removed--not just from Baule works--sacrificial patinas, polishing the cleaned items and making it difficult to reconstruct their usage. Some nature spirits are represented by couples (Fig. 251), which alleviates the puzzle, while others still have something of their original sacrificial patina. Without these clues or information about a specific object's use at the time it left C\u00f4te d'Ivoire, a Baule figure's function remains uncertain.<\/span>\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n
\r\n

Further Reading<\/h3>\r\nLaGamma, Alisa. Art and Oracle: African Art and Rituals of Divination<\/em>. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art,\u00a02000. <\/span>\r\n\r\nRavenhill, Philip L. Dreams and Reverie: Images of Otherworld mates among the Baule, West Africa<\/em>. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1996.\r\n\r\nVogel, Susan M. Baule: African Art Western Eyes<\/em>. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997.\r\n\r\nVogel, Susan M. \"People of Wood: Baule Figure Sculpture.\" Art Journal<\/em> 33 (1, 1973): 23-26.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n

Love in the Age of AIDS<\/h3>\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1631\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"400\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 252. This poster reads \"AIDS is watching us--use condoms.\" Togo Ministry of Public Health and Population, color lithograph; ca. 1996. Wellcome Collection, London. Creative Commons CC BY-NC 4.0<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nAcquired immunodeficiency syndrome<\/span> (AIDS in English; SIDA in French) and its HIV-positive predecessor were first recognized in Africa in the early 1980s, quickly becoming a pandemic that affected all parts of the continent, but became particularly prevalent in southern African nations. Public health management was a necessity in order to change behavior, prevent its spread, avert isolation of those affected, and draw attention to medication and other management procedures. Many different educational initiatives arose, from banners in Lagos' international airport that read \"Stay protected--wear a raincoat\" (a euphemism for a condom) to illustrated leaflets and posters. The latter were particularly encouraged, as they attracted attention and could be \"read\" by non-literate individuals (Fig. 252). This continuing effort has helped encourage and support African graphic designers.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1635\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"600\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 253. Color lithograph by Ch\u00e9ri Samba,1990. Wellcome Collection, London. Creative Commons CC BY-NC<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1636\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"214\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 254. Zimbabwe national colors border this AIDS-prevention graphic produced by the AIDS Counselling Trust (ACT) of Zimbabwe. Colour lithograph; ca. 1995. Wellcome Collection, London. Creative Commons CC BY-NC<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nNumerous popular urban painters in the Democratic Republic of Congo have addressed both AIDS itself as well as issues of infidelity that cause its spread. Ch\u00e9ri Samba and his younger brother Cheik L\u00e9dy (who died of AIDS in 1997) both addressed these issues in their paintings, amidst other themes that deplore corruption, winks at sexual matters, and salient observations about urban lives. Samba created a poster for an exhibition on AIDS-related art in 1990 (Fig. 253). The inscriptions--a familiar inclusion in Samba's paintings--refer to the argument between European and Congolese officials. Where did AIDS come from? The Westerner in the print states that the disease came from Africa: \"all the Western media say so.\" The poster's African counterargument: \"Are you joking? Why is Africa always scapegoated? No, it's been proven to be from the West, an error of genetic manipulation.\" The painting is set up like a dartboard with two dials, one bearing condoms, the other syringes. In the board's lower half, two emaciated AIDS patients, their complexions the inverse of the men in suits, wonder: \"But . . . why all the polemics? What are the researchers doing? Don't we have a right to life?\"\u00a0Samba's style, on the border of realism and caricature, often illuminates social issues dealing with issues of male\/female behavior, or--in this case--their consequences.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1638\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"900\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 255. Anti-AIDS billboard, Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, 2004. Photo by Laura. Creative Commons\u00a0CC BY-NC-ND 2.0<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nConcerns about the effects of infidelity are reflected in both commercial and personal art forms. Numerous works stress family responsibilities or a loving relationship as a form of protection (Fig. 254). A professional designer created this example, and it is meant to be eye-catching through its use of bright, saturated colors and clear message.\r\n\r\nUrban artists create some of the public signage meant to reduce AIDS, and they often stress avoidance of prostitutes and the use of condoms. The ways in which these artists characterize males and females tend to concentrate on transactional couples (Fig. 255). This billboard's fairly naturalistic imagery dwells on the woman's exposed breast, transparent skirt, and makeup, although the man remains fully dressed. Salacious imagery is meant to draw the male viewer's attention, but the cautionary message takes up most of the composition, perhaps out of concern the viewer might miss the overall import in favor of a seductive focus.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1639\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"900\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 256. Nature and wildlife scenes flank this anti-HIV\/AIDS message, which exhorts \"Together we fight against HIV AIDS.\" Franceville Ndzaki-Ville, Gabon, 2013. Photo by jbdodane. Creative Commons CC BY-NC 2.0<\/a>.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nThe \"original couple\" of Adam and Eve may be the reference for the central motif on a wall in Gabon (Fig. 256). Bucolic nature scenes with wild animal signifiers flank what appears to be a foreign couple gazing at each other longingly under a tree. They seem to be a tropical, updated (and more discreetly clothed) version of Adam and Eve, the white dove hovering over them suggesting the presence of the Christian Holy Spirit. Their presence is distinctly tied to the concept of temptation--though mangos, rather than apples, are the forbidden fruit--since the inscription above them states \"Conscience controls desire.\"\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1672\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"640\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 257. Billboard in Tamale, Ghana, 2008. Photo \u00a9 Tim Little, with gracious permission.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1674\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"193\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 258. Poster meant to discourage Edo girls from engaging in schemes designed to lure them into prostitution in Europe. Poster used in United Nations campaign in Edo State, Nigeria, before 2008. Photo courtesy UNICRI.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nVisual efforts to curb the disease often encourage girls to remain chaste\u00a0(Fig. 257), often harking back to regional social mores of the past, which may have since become antiquated within their respective cultures. The artist who painted this billboard has clothed his virgin in attire that would have been considered scandalous not long ago--tight bicycle shorts might prove a deterrent to access, but long or short pants were considered provocative in many regions through the 1990s. The power of past traditions is even put to use to discourage young women from being lured into the European sex trade (Fig. 258), with the 16th-century face of Queen Mother Idia directing a stern look at any young women who might be contemplated departures from traditional moral codes.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1783\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"1000\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 259. Beaded wall hanging by Jane Makhubele in Shangaan\u00a0Tsonga style. South Africa, made before 2002.\u00a0Image courtesy of the Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies, Northwestern University.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_1785\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"250\"]\"\"<\/a> Fig. 260. Doll representing a married woman, as indicated by her dress. Zulu female artist, South Africa, before 2002. H 45.28\". \u00a0Image courtesy of the Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies, Northwestern University.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nMore personal is a beaded wall hanging by Jane Makhubele, which speaks to a chaste young woman who is protecting herself from potential disease (Fig. 259). The central image is bordered not only by beaded versions of the red HIV\/AIDS ribbon, but by turquoise, yellow, and white versions as well. These integrate the work's colors, although the red ribbon is the symbol meant to promote awareness of the disease and solidarity with those affected.\u00a0Many South African female producers of beaded souvenirs include the red ribbon on dolls that depict married Zulu women (Fig. 260). Here the ribbon appears on the doll's beadwork, a message perhaps exhorting all couples to remain faithful.\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n \r\n
\r\n

Further Reading<\/h3>\r\nAd\u00e9j\u00f9m\u1ecd, \u00c0r\u00ecnp\u00e9 Gb\u00e9k\u00e8l\u00f3l\u00fa. \"Family health awareness in popular Yor\u00f9b\u00e1 arts.\" In Toyin\u00a0<\/a>Falola, ed. Africans and the politics of popular culture<\/em>, pp.\u00a0261-274. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester, 2009.<\/a><\/a><\/span>\r\n\r\n\"Les artistes africains et le SIDA = African artists and AIDS.\"\u00a0Revue noire<\/em> no.\u00a020 (March\/April, 1996): 82-83.<\/span><\/span>\r\n\r\n\"Les artistes africains et le SIDA = African artists and AIDS.\"\u00a0Revue noire<\/em> no.\u00a021 (June\/July, 1996): 82-90.<\/span><\/span>\r\n\r\nLunda, Violet Bridget. \"Of abstinence, virginity and HIV AID: the language of female empowerment in Botswana advertisements.\" In Susan\u00a0<\/a>Arndt, Susan, ed. Theater, performance and new media in Africa<\/em>, pp. 187-200. Eckersdorf, Germany: Breitinger, 2007.<\/a><\/a>\r\n\r\nMelville Herskovits Library of African Studies, Northwestern University Library. \"Communities Uniting to Fight HIV\/AIDS in Africa<\/a>\" online exhibition. 2002.\r\n\r\nNjogu, Kimani and\u00a0Mary Mugo-Wanjau. \"Art and health promotion: creativity against HIV and\u00a0<\/span>AIDS.\" In Kimani\u00a0<\/span><\/a>Njogu, ed. Cultural production and social change in\u00a0Kenya: building bridges<\/em>, pp. 187-213. Nairobi: Twaweza Communication, 2007.<\/a>\r\n\r\nRoberts, Allen F.\u00a0<\/span>\"'Break the silence':\u00a0<\/span>art<\/span>\u00a0and HIV\/<\/span>AIDS<\/span>\u00a0in KwaZulu-Natal.\" African Arts<\/em>\u00a034 (1, 2001): 36-49, 93-95\r\n.<\/a><\/span>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n ","rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Fig. 184. These four combs were intended as love gifts. Clockwise, upper left: Fante or Asante male artist, Ghana, late 19th or early 20th century. H 9.25″. Dallas Museum of Art, 1981.174. Gift of Henry H. Hawley III. Public domain. Upper right: Akan male artist, Ghana, early 20th century. H 17 3\/8″. Detroit Institute of Arts, 2016.139. Gift of Dr. Nii and Martina Y. Quarcoopome. Public domain. Lower right: Akan male artist, Ghana, late 19th or early 20th century. H 7.87″. \u00a9 Trustees of the British Museum, Af1986,17.141. Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 4.0<\/a>. Lower left: Asante male artist, Ghana, late 19th or early 20th century. H 12.25″. Brooklyn Museum, 74.217.6. Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Willi Riese to the Jennie Simpson Educational Collection of African Art. Creative Commons-BY<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The image of the male-female couple is fairly common in African art. Some couple images represent twins rather than mates, but this chapter explores the former. These do not usually depict specific individuals, but represent a basic adult social unit, a foundation of community. In life, courtship or arranged marriage produces couples.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Fig. 185. This necklace, made by a young woman for a man, has four beaded “love letters” as well as a larger flap. Blue is often associated with fidelity and an inverted triangle usually signifies a bachelor. Zulu, South Africa, late 19th century. Mus\u00e9e du Quai Branly, 70.2014.7.1.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While these events are not\u00a0depicted in traditional art, there are traditional art forms that support both processes. Among the Akan of Ghana, for<\/p>\n

example, until recently an elaborate decorative comb served as a typical courtship gift (Fig. 184). Its imagery might be generic or pointed–sometimes referring to a defeated suitor, for instance, or including visual notes that signified the would-be husband would be a good provider. Even after marriage, a woman might keep her gifts from old admirers, most of which were meant for display rather than practical use, for they tend to be too large for a comfortable fit in the hand. Wives might additionally receive combs from their husbands after marriage to mark special occasions\u00a0such as the birth of a child.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Fig. 186. This mange<\/em>, made by a Nupe woman, was afterward taken to a brass smith who added metal repouss\u00e9 plating. Nigeria, mid-20th century. H 15.75″. Courtesy Cincinnati Museum of Art,\u00a01990.18.\u00a0Gift of the Ellis H. and Doris B. Robinson Foundation<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Fig. 187. This Nupe mange<\/em> was made by a Nupe woman but painted by a Nupe man in a way that ignores the incised geometric patterns with which the potter decorated its surface. H 15.55. Afrika Museum Berg en Dal, AM-422-9. From the Congregatie van de Heilige Geest. Creative Commons\u00a0CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>; photo trimmed.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Young Zulu women, as well as their counterparts in neighboring ethnic groups, create courtship gifts for young men they fancy. With these they indicate their interest without conversation. These beaded rectangles, usually called “love letters” in English are fairly small, although they may be duplicated to form a necklace (Fig. 185). Although the colors and symbols used by the potential girlfriends and brides have meanings, they are generational and also vary from area to area. Young men may have to have their sisters or mothers help them interpret the meaning and can wear as much beadwork as their female admirers\u00a0can supply until they make an arrangement to marry.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Fig. 188. A Christian wedding party before 1912. In Robert H. Milligan, Fetish Folk of West Africa. New York: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1912, facing p. 283. Public domain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Wedding gifts related to a new household were popular. In the past, one such standard gift for Nupe brides were\u00a0terracotta pots. Often these, too, were kept unused, but for a different reason. Bowls, cooking pots, and water containers for daily use were one thing, but wedding gifts were kept aside. Not only did their display constitute a formidable statement about bridal popularity, but the unused pottery could be sold in future if immediate cash was needed. One popular wedding gift was the mange<\/em>, a\u00a0 smallish, narrow-necked pot for water or palm wine (Fig. 186). In the early part of the 20th century, gifts to princesses or other wealthy women might include flat brass ornamentation on\u00a0the outside. By the 1960s, wedding guests would buy them from a potter,\u00a0then take them to a male specialist who would paint them (Fig. 187).\u00a0\u00a0By the\u00a0late 20th century, such gifts were considered hopelessly old-fashioned, replaced\u00a0by imported Chinese enamel lidded bowls and\u00a0casseroles.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Fig. 189. Princess Theresa first married at a Catholic ceremony at Holy Cross Cathedral (above), then came to the palace, cut an elaborate architectural cake, and changed her clothes for her traditional ceremony (below). Photos by D. Anthony Mahone, Benin City, Nigeria, 1994.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Fig. 190. This Igbo woman’s elaborate hairstyle would have prevented her from carrying loads on the head. Awka, Nigeria, early 20th c. From The Secret Museum of Mankind<\/em>. New York: Manhattan House, n.d., n.p. [p. 119].<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Weddings themselves were and are major family occasions, open to all regardless of invitation. While in the past such celebrations followed traditional law and custom (which usually required “bride price”–a requisite gift that varied from one region to another, but might include livestock, alcoholic drinks, foodstuffs, or cash), contemporary couples often have both a traditional ceremony and a “white wedding”–that is, a wedding with a Western-style wedding gown for the bride, and a suit and white<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Fig. 191. This wedding cape was beaded by a Zulu bride. South Africa, ca. 1970s. Cotton trade cloth, glass beads, fiber. 38 \u00d7 33.5″. \u00a9 Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 2013.731. Gift of William D. Roth and Norma Canelas Roth. Creative Commons CC-BY-NC<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

gloves for the groom. Although this adoption of custom began with Christian converts in the late 19th\/early 20th century (Fig. 186), it has\u00a0become very widespread even among non-Christians. Even brides from the most traditional of families may stagger a church ceremony with a traditional one, as occurred in Nigeria’s Benin Kingdom in 1994, when the Oba’s eldest daughter Princess Theresa wed in the Catholic<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Fig. 192. Zulu man in marriage attire made by his bride. South Africa, early 20th century. Mus\u00e9e du Quai Branly, PP0150914.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Holy Cross Cathedral, then shed her gown for traditional attire in a palace celebration (Fig. 189).\u00a0The Oba of Benin’s\u00a0two oldest daughters have special weddings, receiving many gifts of beads from their father on the palace dais. Although many Benin brides wear their hair in a beehive-like wedding style imitation of the queens, the Princess could not do so because one of her privileges as the eldest daughter was a coral-beaded headband. This is normally part of chiefly regalia; she, her next youngest sister, and her grandmother (the Oba’s mother) are the only Edo women allowed to wear it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Fig. 193. Zulu bride and groom. South Africa, 2017. Single frame from MzansiMagicOfficial “Our Perfect Wedding: 26 March 2017.”<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Although high-status versions of traditional wear constitute wedding wear among many African couples, sometimes specific hairstyles or clothing are worn only at the wedding, or during the period immediately following it. Wedding coiffures are usually a female practice, and often used to involve a crest (Fig. 190), since this precluded carrying loads on the head. Avoidance of carrying water or firewood was acceptable and encouraged only for the wedding\u00a0and labor-free honeymoon periods; sometimes it was reprised during a first pregnancy as well.\u00a0Certain attire is worn specifically for a wedding in some regions, although this is a fluid tradition\u00a0that follows its own stylistic changes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Fig. 195. This door, carved by a Yoruba male sculptor from Iseyin, Nigeria, features a couple having sex as its central motif. H 51.18″. Afrika Museum Berg en Dal, AM-555-1.\u00a0Creative Commons\u00a0CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Zulu brides of the late 20th century, for example,\u00a0transformed cotton blankets with imported glass seed beads, creating\u00a0splendid (if heavy) multi-colored garments (Fig. 191).\u00a0In the early 20th century, Zulu grooms wore complex beaded attire created by their brides, dance shields in hand (Fig. 192), and today what appears\u00a0“traditional” follows neither of these patterns (Fig. 193).\u00a0Instead, what was\u00a0once a red-ochred\u00a0flared hairstyle for married women–not brides–became a wig and then a red hat is transformed for a wedding into a leopard copy of the same form, in line with the groom’s attire, but with an attached beaded veil. Earlier in this 2017 ceremony, the bride wore a white, Western-style gown before changing. Beadwork, however, did not form a major part of either newlywed’s attire.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Fig. 194. This mirror case (its cover is closed) was probably made as a wedding gift by a Yoruba male artist. Nigeria, early 20th century. H 9.84″. Afrika Museum Berg en Dal, AM-535-7. Formerly Congregatie van de Heilige Geest (CSSp.). Creative Commons\u00a0CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Fig. 196. This door lock, made by a Bamana male sculptor, takes the form of a woman. Mali, 20th century. H 17.32″. Afrika Museum Berg en Dal, AM-41-20. Formerly in the collection of the Congregatie van de Heilige Geest (CSSp.). Creative Commons CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The sanctioned union created by a wedding is meant to produce children, and occasionally the act of procreation is depicted. Yoruba mirrors with carved frames and covers–a common gift in the early 20th century–occasionally featured the image of a copulating couple (Fig. 194). This was not meant to be a particularly erotic image, but instead a type of visual encouragement to fruitfulness. The motif can show up outside the context of weddings, appearing as one of the carvings on the border of a divination tray or even on a high-status door (Fig. 195), speaking to issues of fertility and sexual health, but also to the matter-of-fact truth that sex is a part of daily life and the continuance of life requires both genders’ cooperation. It can be both licit and illicit, the latter potentially creating problems of some magnitude.\u00a0Magun<\/em>, for example, is a well-known type of Yoruba medicine intended to punish unfaithful women and their lovers; secretly applied to a woman by her husband, it\u00a0makes\u00a0adulterers unable to disengage after coitus.\u00a0A diviner or a ritual specialist may have to find a solution for the kinds of frictions and quarrels produced by extramarital sexual activity.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Fig. 197. This mask, made by an Ejagham artist in southeastern Nigeria before 1911, further differentiates the male-female Janus faces. Not only are they distinguished by skin color, their browlines are contrasted–a sharp, angular, keeled brow for the male, a smooth rounded curve for the female. Their temple scarifications differ–hers are round, his are square, his squinting, hers open. In addition, the male has a beard made from actual human hair–a very rare occurrence in African art. H 15.35″. \u00a9 Trustees of the British Museum, Af1911,1016.1. Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 4.0<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Fig. 198. Two architectural post by a Tsogho male artist, Gabon, 20th century. H 5.45′. Mus\u00e9e du Quai Branly, 71.1961.120.147.1-2. Gift of Jacques Millot.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Although erotic subject matter is fairly rare in traditional African art (though not uncommon in 20th-century neotraditional art made for foreigners), recognition of sexuality and its place in marriage certainly exists. Door locks for the Bamana of Mali (Fig. 196) acted as common wedding gifts–the brides’ parents often provided her with a figurative male lock and a door, while a wife often gave her husband a lock in the form of a female figure. no matter the gender of the figure, the lock itself was considered feminine, while the horizontal bar was masculine, and sometimes took a phallic form. The movement of the bar’s slide action during locking and unlocking was conceived of as intercourse, evidence of the created “couple.”<\/p>\n

The appearance of a male-female couple can stress the complementarity of the sexes, rather than a husband-wife pairing. While the dual appearances of genders speak to an equivalency of existential value, it does not necessarily translate into societal equality.<\/p>\n

Some skin-covered helmet masks or crests from southeastern Nigeria’s Cross Rivers region depict Janus heads or four heads, splitting the genders represented. Although facial features are often styled similarly, the female is usually shown with light skin, while the male has considerably darker skin (see example at Pitt-Rivers Museum, Oxford<\/a>). Some examples have different hairstyles that further clarify whether they are male and female, while others do not. Sometimes the facial scarification differentiates them. Information regarding their meaning is scarce. Different men’s societies wore them for a variety of functions, including funerals. Are they, in essence, the ideal man–a warrior–and the ideal woman–a nubile graduate of the fattening house? It’s impossible to say with any certainty. Occasionally one will include two females with one man or other idiosyncratic features (Fig. 197), but dual faced normally speak to the male-female pair\u00a0as the basis of society.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Fig. 199. This unusually asymmetrical mask bears a couple. Eastern Pende male artist, Democratic Republic of Congo, 19th century. H 15.75″. Brooklyn Museum, Museum Expedition 1922, Robert B. Woodward Memorial Fund, 22.1690. Creative Commons-BY.<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That the concept of the pair shows completeness is visible in many of the continent’s art forms. Architectural features may refer to the couple (Fig. 198), masquerades may contain images of complementary genders (Fig. 199), or figurative sculpture may represent the pair.\u00a0Marriage is considered one of the benchmarks of adulthood. Even today, it is nearly unthinkable for a person of prominence seeking a government or corporate appointment to be unmarried. This often occurs in art as well, with deities and ancestors frequently shown with spouses. The southern\u00a0Bamana of the region around Banan and Baninko, for example,\u00a0have a fertility cult known as Gwan. Its shrine includes a multitude of figures that revolve\u00a0around a seated female with a child, known as Gwandusu.\u00a0Her male consort\u00a0Gwanjaraba, however, must also be\u00a0present, even though he,<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Fig. 200. Although both of these figures were made by Bamana male sculptors and were displayed in Gwan fertility shrines, they were neither made by the same artist nor part of the same shrine. Left, H 51″. Mali, early 20th century. The Detroit Institute of Arts, 2003.66. Museum Purchase, African Oceanic and New World Cultures Art General Fund, Ralph H. Booth Bequest Fund, Mary Martin Semmes Fund, Joseph H. Parsons Fund and partial gift of Dr. Werner Muensterberger. Public domain. Right, Mali, 16th-19th century. H 35 3\/8″. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1983.600a, b. Gift of John and Evelyn Kossak, The Kronos Collections, in honor of Martin Lerner, 1983. Public domain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

like the baby, is there only to show she is a “completed woman” (Fig. 200). Women seeking a child promise to name the outcome of a successful offering after the figures. In works made for the same shrine by the same artist, he can be smaller than his “wife,” and is sometimes not frontal nor\u00a0seated, both indications he has less status and dignity.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Fig. 201. These two town ancestral figures carved by an Igbo male artist have prominent navels, indicative of lineage ties, and cosmetic uli<\/em> body paint decorates their torsos and necks. The male figure wears a loincloth, the female wears waist beads. Nigeria, photo taken before 1939, perhaps by\u00a0 J. St\u00f6cker.\u00a0\u00a9 Trustees of the British Museum, Af,B54.12. Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 4.0<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Among the Igbo of southeastern Nigeria, town shrines contained significantly large sculptures of town founders. These community ancestors were remembered more as mythical than as historical figures. They, too, are represented in pairs, accompanied by supporters. Males and females are counterparts of one another, their relative heights reflecting common gender height disparities, rather than a hierarchical\u00a0relationship (Fig. 201).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Fig. 202. Work by the Chamba male artist Soompa (active 1920s – 1940s), Nigeria. H 21.25″. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond,\u00a02005.77.\u00a0Gift of Robert and Nancy Nooter.\u00a0Creative Commons\u00a0CC-BY-NC<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Fig. 203. This edan<\/em> Ogboni pair shows the titled female Erelu with her symbolic spoon, her male partner holding another pair of linked edan<\/em> Ogboni. Yoruba male artist, Nigeria, 20th century. Courtesy of Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, 2002.39.3. Gift of Rod McGalliard.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Marriage’s creation of a unit is sometimes explicit. A Nigerian sculpture by the Chamba male artist Soompa depicts husband and wife sharing a common lower garment and one pair of legs (Fig. 202). Equivalent in size, the shape of their crested hairstyles\u00a0is one of their clearest differences. Primary and secondary sexual traits are alluded to, but not emphasized. Instead, their similarities are stressed: elongated cylindrical torsos and necks, as well as identical geometricized facial features.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Fig. 204. This is a fairly rare example of a complex wood sculpture from the hands of an Asante male artist. Ghana, 19th or 20th century. Afrika Museum Berg en Dal, AM-125-2. Formerly part of the collection of the Congregatie van de Heilige Geest (CSSp.).\u00a0Creative Commons\u00a0CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Fig. 205a. Male Dogon artist, Mali, 19th century. H 28.75″. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1977.394.15. Gift of Lester Wunderman; 1977. Public domain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Similarly, Yoruba\u00a0edan<\/em>, metal figures that act as the emblem of the Ogboni (also known as Oshugbo) Society, a group that used to perform judicial and punitive activities in each Yoruba kingdom, equated male and female forms in key ways (Fig. 203). While their primary and secondary sexual characteristics are designated, they are played down–the figures have similar body contours, facial features,\u00a0and hairstyles. They are literally joined by a metal chain; Ogboni members place the figures on their chest, chain at the back of the neck, when carrying out official duties. Although women cannot take an active role in Ogboni until they are post-menopausal, their importance and powers at that age are seen as equivalent to those of men, and their visual complementarity is sometimes even more extreme–a jawline border often acts as a stylized beard on both figures, a reminder that some post-menopausal women have (albeit limited) facial hair. Scholars may dispute the identity of the figures–Ogboni founders? representatives of the androgynous duality of the deified female Earth?–but suggest that efficaciousness of any significance necessitates the complementary and interdependent principles represented by a male-female pairing. In a sense, the edan<\/em> Ogboni is a symbolic equivalent of the Taoist taijitu<\/em> emblem representing the principles of yin<\/em> and yang<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Fig. 205b. Reverse of Fig. 205a. Male Dogon artist, Mali, 19th century. H 28.75″. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1977.394.15. Gift of Lester Wunderman; 1977. Public domain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The visual expression of male-female interdependence transcends any particular couple to become a philosophical construct of gender complementarity. It is expressed in many representations of the couple as a kind of archetype, rather than merely individuals who physically interact. Symbolic unity can be achieved by sharing the same seat, a practice that does not occur in everyday life. In an Asante sculpture (Fig. 204), two figures share a stool–a physical impossibility given the size of these seats. Unfortunately, the object was collected without information. Is this a representation of a married couple, demonstrating their unity? While that might be a logical assumption in some parts of the continent, it is unlikely for the Asante. Most stools are extremely personal, and no one except the owner would ever use a given example. There are, however, state stools that act as thrones, and the Asante and other Akan peoples speak of the enstooling of a ruler or of inheriting the stool. To show a couple sharing a stool may indicate that we are seeing a ruler and a Queen Mother, either the ruler’s actual mother or a designated female relative who acts as a stand-in if she is deceased. Queen Mothers are influential, not only dispensing advice but instrumental in the selection of a new ruler. Perhaps this couple–the female shown slightly taller than the male–represents mother and son, but it is impossible to verify without further information.<\/p>\n

A Dogon male artist from Mali produced one of the best-known African representations of the couple (Fig. 205a,b). Like the Asante couple in Fig. 204, the male and female figures share\u00a0a stool. Their hairstyles differentiate them, but otherwise their genders are played down for a more androgynous effect. While the woman has breasts, they are not overlarge, and the male’s chest protrudes as a solid form in a complementary fashion. Some facial features–arrow-like nose, eyes with metal inserts–are identical. While the male’s mouth is larger, the female’s has a similar amorphous shape. The verticality of her labret is a counterpart to his beard. While their genitalia varies, and the male’s gesture draws attention to the concept of procreation, their body silhouettes replicate one another–his shoulders are no wider, her figure does not nip in at the waist nor flare<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Fig. 206. This couple, carved by a Dogon male carver now called the Barnes Foundation Master, was produced in Mali in the late 19th\u2013early 20th century. H (sculpture without the base made by Inagaki) 27 3\/8″.\u00a0 Courtesy the Barnes Foundation<\/a> A197.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Fig. 207. A Dogon male artist carved this stool in Mali at\u00a0some point in the first half of the 20th century. H 14.25″. Photo by Paul Hester. Courtesy The Menil Collection, X 2071<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

out at the hips. A symphony of repeated cylinders, they neither mirror actual human forms nor are distinguished from one another. In this, they are similar to the\u00a0Igbo, Chamba, Yoruba, and Asante pairs already examined. The essence of their message remains complementarity, which is borne out by the vocational symbols on their backs: man as provider, indicated by his quiver, woman as nurturer, symbolized by her child.<\/p>\n

The link between these figures is made manifest not only by the stool, but by physical touch–the man’s arm rests across the woman’s shoulders, creating a strong horizontal that echoes those of the stool’s base and seat. Traditional African art rarely portrays eye contact or touch, even in depictions of husband and wife. Is this an ordinary husband and wife? We do not know the function of this object or similar Dogon pairs–for this is not a unique object (See Fig. 206)–because they have not been made or used since the early 20th century. While these examples are similar in many respects, there are other analogous pieces whose facial style is vastly different or that lack the caryatid stool.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Fig. 208. This terracotta sculpture, made by an Igbo female artist from the Western Igbo village of Osisa, depicts a successful titled man surrounded by household members. A brazier rests in front of the male, yams roasting inside; roasted yams are a focus of the Igbo New Yam festival. Nigeria, before 1880. H 18.5″. A work by the same hand is in the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh. \u00a9 Trustees of the British Museum, Af1951,01.1.\u00a0Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 4.0<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Were they personal objects owned by individuals, sculptures belonging to the extended family’s shrine, works on the shrine of the hogon<\/em>, the village priestly leader? Were they displayed at the funerals of prominent men or used in a completely different context? Both pairs illustrated here show the couple seated on a stool with figurative caryatids; this refers to the kind of stool only the hogon<\/em> owned (Fig. 207). Scholars have often referred to the supporting figures as nommo<\/em>, primordial ancestral beings who brought agriculture to the Dogon and create rainfall. According to a group of French scholars headed by the late Marcel Griaule, such stools are models of the cosmos, the seat representing the sky connected by a central tree (a post) to the base, the earth. That the couple sits upon such a stool both conveys leadership associations and suggests an identity out of the ordinary–that of the primordial couple, or first human beings. Is that indeed their identity? Religious discontinuities since the early 20th century prevent any certainty concerning the exact meaning and function of these and similar works. Despite our ignorance regarding this key information, the object’s imagery does convey key cultural ideas regarding male and female interdependence, equivalent\u00a0value, and<\/p>\n

divergent social roles.<\/p>\n

Although polygamy is not uncommon in Africa–particularly among the wealthy–it has rarely been the subject of traditional art. The couple alone can represent the complementarity of the sexes and convey information about roles. A few traditional pieces do address multiple wives, however, as do some contemporary works.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Fig. 209. This 19″ Ifijioku terracotta sculpture, made by an Igbo woman from Osisa, Nigeria, is part of a group collected in the 1880s. It includes a man and his two wives–one pregnant, the other holding a toddler. 1892. From Harry Alis and Edouard Charton, eds., “Voyage dans l’Adamaoua; par le Lieutenant de Vaisseau L. Mizon.” Le Tour du Monde: Nouveau Journal des Voyages<\/em> 64 (No. 1657-1659, 1892): 232. Now in the National Museum, Lagos. Public domain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Fig. 210. This puppet ensemble, made by a Bamana male sculptor, could be made to move through the action of now-missing strings. The “theater” for this open-air cheko<\/em> perfomance was a huge cloth animal that hid the performers; puppet vignettes were located on its back and sides. Mali,1994. H 29.52″.Tropenmuseum\u00a0TM-5566-5.\u00a0Creative Commons CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A small group of late 19th-century Igbo terracotta sculptures places the male head of household at the center of a dense figurative cluster. With their masterful handling of surface patterning, these sculptures attest to the skills of a single village, for they were all collected from Osisa, an Ndokwa\u00a0Igbo community on the west bank of the Niger River. The family head is (Fig. 208) usually flanked by two wives with a carved ivory tusk in his left hand–a reference to his high status as a titleholder–while a member of his entourage beats out a rhythm on an iron gong. He and his wives hold fans; his imported hat also attests to his high position, as do their elaborate hairstyles. Fecundity is underscored; one wife holds a baby to her breast, while some other examples (Fig. 209) show one wife pregnant, the other with a child. The chickens in these works await their fate as sacrificial offerings; the objects were apparently altars dedicated to Ifejioku, the god of yams, the Igbo farming and culinary specialty. Today shrines to Ifejioku (“Ifijioku” in other Igbo areas; a male deity in the Ndokwa region) are small marked-off areas of the ground that support a wooden stake. \u00a0Human and plant fertility are inextricably linked, and wives, children, and retainers are testaments to the success of a wealthy farmer.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Fig. 211. This photo probably represents a man with two wives; their identical dress is meant to demonstrate he treats both wives identically, as the Koran commands. Photo by. H. Danel. Djenne, Mali, ca. 1904. Public domain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some artworks refer to polygamy without the physical presence of the husband (Fig. 210). While the image of two women pounding food in a mortar together might depict any two women–mother and daughter, sisters, mother and daughter-in-law–it is usually interpreted as an image of co-wives. A metaphor for smooth cooperation, since a rhythmic alternation of strokes is necessary, such images can speak to the ideal polygamous family, where all members coexist in harmony. When sculptures are part of a performance, however, as these puppets are, the pestles sometimes become weapons as the women’s rivalry is made manifest.\u00a0Jealousy among\u00a0co-wives is common.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Fig. 212. In this compound, a man and his wife or wives each dwell in a separate house. Senufo, near Banfora, Burkina Faso, 2009. Photo by Rita Willaert. Creative Commons CC BY-NC 2.0<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Among\u00a0West African Muslim families, men are supposed to avert it as\u00a0much as possible by purchasing their\u00a0wives the same items, and when these are worn at the same\u00a0time,\u00a0the ideal is achieved, if only\u00a0for a moment (Fig. 211).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Fig. 214. This figural group shows two European couples at the table, one of many works Ona made that note non-Yoruba behavior on the part of British spouses.\u00a0The figures, chairs,\u00a0and table are all carved from one piece of wood, but the supports,\u00a0plates, dish, jug and pith helmets are separately carved and attached.\u00a0Thomas Ona Odulate. Yoruba male artist, Nigeria, ca. 1940. H 8.25″. Tropenmuseum,\u00a0TM-3441-8. Creative Commons\u00a0CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Fig. 213. Neckrests were once more widespread as sleeping supports, but are still found in some parts of southern and eastern Africa. Double neckrests like this are far less common. Zulu male artist, South Africa, before 1920. MAS (Museum aan de Stroom), Antwerp, AE.3726. Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In actual domestic settings, household arrangements for husband and wife tend to follow patterns of gender separation. Traditional housing–except for very poor urban dwellers–usually ensures husband and wife or wives have their own houses within a compound (Fig. 212). While a double neckrest (Fig. 213) attests to the incomplete nature of domestic separation, double beds in most women’s houses or rooms are usually meant to be shared with their children, not their spouses. Urban homes in traditional forms, such as those in Djenne, Mali or in Nigeria’s Hausa cities,\u00a0usually site the women’s quarters in the compound interior, so that the husband’s room has a street or entry view, and passage into the interior of the household is restricted to family or close friends. This has even carried over to modern styles of houses and apartments–as long as it is affordable, a husband and wife\/wives will each have their own room. Wealthy men may provide separate dwellings–sometimes in different towns–for their wives.<\/p>\n

Observations of modernity and its impact on couplehood have impacted some artists. Each region has its own standards for one gender’s behavior toward the other, but a degree of separation is common, as is avoidance of affection in public. Early in the 20th-century sculptors began to record the\u00a0odd couple behavior of foreign colonials, who ate together at a table (Fig. 214), walked with their arms around each other, or even kissed in public, all evidence of unmannerly behavior. Later responses to modern couplehood–African and foreign alike–attracted artists’ eyes (Fig. 215) as the impact of European influence–through direct\u00a0observation, film and television productions–appeared.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Fig. 215. This mural by Cheri Samba decorates Matonge, Brussels’ considerable expatriate Congolese community. Samba (his self-portrait is centrally located, wearing a striped shirt; his wife Philda is at right having her hair coiffed) takes note of casual male-female interactions among Belgians and Congolese, stressing interracial romance and public displays of affection via the two couples that flank him: a European man and an African woman kissing, and an African man and a European woman kissing.\u00a0Both women are dressed in revealing clothing and seem unconcerned about public groping. Photo by Finne Boonen, Brussels, Belgium, 2006. Creative Commons CC BY-SA 2.5<\/a>, cropped and color-adjusted.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Further Reading<\/h3>\n

Arnoldi, Mary Jo. Playing with Time: Art and Performance in Central Mali<\/em>. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1995.<\/p>\n

Berns, Marla C. “Art, history, and gender: women and\u00a0clay in West Africa.”\u00a0The African Archaeological Review<\/em> 11 (1993): 129-148.<\/p>\n

Cole, Herbert M. Icons: Ideals and Power in the Art of Africa<\/em>. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989.<\/p>\n

Cole, Herbert M. and Chike C. Aniakor.\u00a0Igbo arts: community and cosmos<\/em>. Los Angeles:\u00a0<\/a>Museum of Cultural History, UCLA, 1984.<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n

Curnow, Kathy. At Home in Africa: Design, Beauty and Pleasing Irregularity in Domestic Settings<\/em>. Cleveland, OH: The Galleries at Cleveland State University, 2014.<\/p>\n

Ezra, Kate.\u00a0Art of the Dogon: Selections from the Lester Wunderman Collection<\/a><\/em>.\u00a0New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1988.<\/p>\n

Ezra, Kate. A Human Ideal in African Art: Bamana Figurative Sculpture<\/em>.\u00a0Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1986.<\/p>\n

LaGamma, Alisa.\u00a0<\/em>Echoing Images: Couples in African Sculpture.<\/em> New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2004.<\/p>\n

Lawal, Babatunde. “\u00c0 y\u00e0 gb\u00f3, \u00e0 y\u00e0 t\u00f3 : new perspectives on Edan \u00d2gb\u00f3ni.” African Arts\u00a0<\/em><\/a>28 (1, 1995): 36-49.<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n

Nzei, Alexander Alezei. “Women and Power: A Case Study of the Ndokwa-Igbo Speaking People West of Niger River, Nigeria.”<\/a> M.Sc. Thesis, University of Nigeria, 1992.<\/p>\n

Roy, Christopher. “Marriage and Eligibility.” Art and Life in Africa<\/em> website<\/a>, University of Iowa.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Rites of Courtship, Ceremonial Displays of Wedded Bliss: The Nomadic Fulani of Northern Nigeria, Niger, and Neighboring Regions<\/h3>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Fig. 216. Two Fulani cattleherders. Photo by Thomas Arthur Manly Nash, Nigeria, 1940s. Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, 1998.304.5. 005. Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While the Fulani people are spread out among many West African countries and are comprised of both settled and nomadic populations, two contiguous sub-groups of the latter engage in complex but contrasting courtship rituals. The cattle-herding Fulani who live in Nigeria, Benin Republic, and Cameroon, as well as those who live just north in Niger and Chad share a nomadic lifestyle and an interest in personal adornment through hairstyles, jewelry, makeup,\u00a0and dress, but are segregated by oral history pertaining to clan origins, and by self-perceived differences.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some aspects of their lifestyle are visually\u00a0<\/span>distinguishable, and\u00a0<\/span>are particularly apparent during the courtship rituals when the personal beauty of both sexes is the subject of intense effort.\u00a0<\/span>As people who are often on the move when new grazing lands are required, their personal possessions tend to be lightweight–the matrimonial bed, mats, calabashes, and personal goods. Their creative efforts <\/span><\/span>therefore become self-directed; individuals themselves periodically become works of art, subject to critique.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Fig. 217. Fulani youth with one large earring and metal-wrapped braids, West Africa, ca. 1943. From a U.S. serviceman’s WWII album, courtesy John Atherton. Creative Commons\u00a0CC BY-SA 2.0<\/a>.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Nomadic Fulani in Nigeria, Benin Republic, Cameroon<\/strong><\/p>\n

Among those nomadic Fulani\u00a0who tend to move across a belt that includes northern and central Nigeria,<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Fig. 218. This Fulani youth from the Kano area wears a simple Hausa-made tunic designed for the Fulani over an imported shirt, his metal wrapped braids and single earring echoing the fashionable styles of 20 years before. Necklace styles had changed, however, Nigeria, 1963-1964. Photo by Jenny Griffin. Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, 2016.17.3. Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

as well as parts of Benin Republic and Cameroon, male fashions for those who are of courting age have varied considerably over time. Their everyday clothes are usually woven and tailored by the Hausa or are imported.\u00a0They often wear the straw hats of older men–domed, with a curly or straight brim (meant to accommodate a cylindrical cap and\/or turban underneath) or conical (though most conical examples are wide-brimmed) (Fig. 216).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Fig. 219. This Sharo participant, laden with medicinal packets at the hips, over his leather apron, holds his mirror in his right hand as he awaits his blows. Fulani, Nigeria, 1944-1946. Photo by Dr. Joseph Denfield.\u00a0\u00a9 Trustees of the British Museum, Af,B47.17.\u00a0Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

These Fulani youth are subject to changing concepts of the fashionable.\u00a0<\/span>Male accessories have included large single earrings (Fig. 217) that had some longevity (Fig. 218), but have long since been out of style, as well as changing jewelry at the neck, arms, and wrists made from beads, leather with brass accents, or imaginative repurposing of imports such as buttons or safety pins. Some males bear facial tattooing (Fig. 216 right), but it is a cosmetic elective rather than an ethnic marker, and is now predominantly a female practice in most regions.\u00a0On market days, when the often\u00a0isolated youths visit towns in the hope of\u00a0encountering Fulani girls, their dressing tends to be more elaborate than when they spend long periods with the cattle, sleeping in the rough.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Fig. 220. Cowrie shells decorate the hair of this Sharo participant, as well as the apron of one of the waiting spectators. He extends his leather-framed mirror in his right hand to demonstrate his unconcern at being beaten. Fulani, Nigeria, 1944-1946. Photo by Dr. Joseph Denfield. \u00a9 Trustees of the British Museum, Af,B47.16.\u00a0Creative Commons\u00a0CC BY-NC-SA 3.0<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dressing is at its peak, however, at celebratory times.\u00a0The biggest occasion for more formal dress is the annual\u00a0celebration known\u00a0variously as Sharo, Soro,\u00a0Goja, or Shadi. Unmarried\u00a0youths called suka<\/em>, usually\u00a0in their mid to<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Fig. 221. This photo is inscribed “The flogger and the flogged.” Fulani, Nigeria, 1944-1946. Photo by Dr. Joseph Denfield.\u00a0\u00a9 Trustees of the British Museum, Af,B47.18. Creative Commons\u00a0CC BY-NC-SA 3.0<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

late teens (although this stage can extend until the mid-twenties), meet in paired ritual combat with their\u00a0counterparts from another community (Fig. 219). Insults are traded by the participants, as well as by female spectators towards rival groups. One youth stands and is whipped by his opponents, often after some feints designed to provoke a reaction. Then, after a recovery period, the initial subject returns the favor. The whips are not leather, but supple tree branches, often with sharpened off-shoots meant to inflict greater damage, the whole prepared with medicine.<\/p>\n

The most admired Sharo participants are those who not only show no pain–that is a given; revealing pain will alienate young women seeking husbands–but whose bodies even withstand flinching. The stars of the performance are those who admire themselves in a mirror while receiving blows (Fig. 220), especially if the mirror is held by one of their female\u00a0admirers. Welts and cuts are<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Fig. 222. This Fulani Sharo participant is sitting in a chair, unconcerned about the impending blow. Leather aprons–sometimes decorated with cowries, were still worn. Photo by Jenny Griffin, Kano region of Nigeria, 1963-1964. Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford,\u00a02016.17.4.\u00a0Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

badges of honor (Fig. 221). Willingness to participate, ability to endure with grace even when taunted by girls of the opposing community, and the appearance of\u00a0diffidence at both the infliction and reception of pain is a key element of Fulani\u00a0pulaaku<\/em>, or “Fulaniness.” Endurance is a necessity for the hard life of a nomad, and Sharo underlines the way men face the blows of life.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Fig. 223. This Sharo participant wears an imported hat, shirt, trousers, and shoes. Fulani, Nigeria. Photo by Roger Blench. Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 3.0<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sharo dressing has changed considerably in the past century. The 1940s saw suka\u00a0<\/em>wearing leather aprons over knee-length shorts, their braids clamped with metal; this remained standard until the 1960s, when they began slipping an abundance of white beads onto their multiple braids (Fig. 222). In the 1990s, copper wire acted like a second coiffure, haloing their heads. More recently headbands or imported hats of various types are a key feature, along with Western shoes and other attire (Fig. 223).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Fig. 224. Fulani girls watching a performance outside of Kano, Nigeria, 1963-1964. These Fulani do not weave; all garments and accessories are bought from neighboring peoples or are imported market goods, though these may be further embellished or recombined in highly creative ways. Photo by Jenny Grffin. Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, 2016.17.7.\u00a0Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Fig. 225. These 21st-century Sharo participants wear a variety of Western hats and attire. Sharo frequently takes place twice a year; this performance is during a Muslim holiday. Bauchi, Nigeria, 2006. Photo by Munir Shields. Creative Commons CC BY-NC-SA 2.0<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gaining the favor of girls is intrinsic to Fulani play, even long before the suka<\/em> stage is reached (Fig. 224).\u00a0At this stage of life, braids–alien to most of the Fulani’s male African neighbors–are a must. Young women taunted a nomadic youth who had settled in town by saying, “Are you not ashamed to walk around with this head of a farmer?” The youth–Ndudi Umaru, a Jafun Fulani from Cameroon who narrated his autobiography–spoke of\u00a0suka\u00a0<\/em>preparations for the festival:<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 “A young suka<\/em> is completely preoccupied with his braids and with girls. He’s never separated from his mirror and his bottles of perfume. He puts salves on his face. He drinks sour milk to which he has added certain powders which are supposed to make him attractive. From his magic belt, he hangs many flasks full of liquid ointments. And he certainly does not forget to obtain ‘the medicine of courage’ from his elders” (Bocquen\u00e9,\u00a0 [1986] 2002, 120).<\/p>\n

Rewards for successful participants include\u00a0the admiration of peers, elders, and younger boys. The most sought-after result is female willingness to pledge love–innocent for young girls (though perhaps leading to marriage), conclusive for married women.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Fig. 226. This Sharo participant wears a boxing helmet and chest gear in a government-supervised Sharo display. Ill\u00e9la district, Niger, 2014. Single frame from\u00a0\u00a0“Sharo 2014”<\/a> by Boubacar Moustapha, 2015.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This endurance contest has been banned off and on in Nigeria, but it is unevenly enforced (Fig. 225). Occasionally rivalries flare up and floggers strike the head instead of the chest, resulting in death and front-page news. Stylized versions without actual blows are a part of some Nigerian state and national cultural festivals. In some parts of Niger, government intervention resulted not in a total ban of Sharo, but an adaption that introduced protective head and chest gear (Fig. 226). This is a considerable departure from remembered practices, but has introduced novel\u00a0costume elements that may have their own appeal.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n