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I AM presently working on a book whose working title is “Body Art in Africa: Expressions of Functionality or Aesthetics.” The book content will range from scarifications, to lip plugs, beadwork, jewelry and elements of African aesthetics, inter alia. It will truly be an Africa-wide book that hopefully, will identify cultural and thought commonalities in black Africa.
At the same time, it will embrace as many ethnic groups in Africa such as the Djenne of Mali, the Yoruba of Nigeria, the Dogon of Mali, the Ndebele and Tonga of Zimbabwe, the Akamba of Kenya and the Mursi of Ethiopia, among several others on the continent.
As I undertake research, many themes are emerging and more importantly, there are shared similarities that may serve as pointers to some common historical traditions, a common origin, and a shared worldview, cosmologies and ideologies. Also included will be the diasporans.
This will be some kind of measure to fathom the depth of cultural elements of African slaves that were shipped out of Africa packed like sardines. My interest in these diasporan communities is to figure out how much of African cultural heritage was preserved under conditions of enslavement. Even at this preliminary stage, it is clear to me that body art suffered a body blow.
If that were the case, how do we explain that? The diasporan communities that I will refer to include those in Brazil, Meso-America, the United State of America (USA) and the Caribbean islands.
The First Nations will equally be given some space. It has become apparent that they shared a lot in common with cultural practices and underpinning beliefs on the African continent. Some such communities are found within the Amazonian region in South America, the Meso-American region that includes Ecuador and the Canadian First Nations that were once referred to as the Red Indians.
Indigenous communities in Australia (the Aborigines) and New Zealand (the Maoris) will not be dealt with in some detail. All the same, they too share a lot in common with ancient Africans, and indeed, other ancients elsewhere on planet Earth.
The one element that is a subject of this series of articles is the moon and its related ramifications among a diversity of ethnic groups. I saw some link between the moon and the transition and transformation on numerous cultural fronts.
We saw again the link between transformation and transition between ash and the facial masks. In my readings, I came across several examples where facemasks and ash were made use of to capture the processes of transformation and transition from one stage and state to another.
In one ethnic group on the African continent young boys on the verge of becoming men, were put on a canoe to be rowed across a river. On the other side of the river, there were groups of animated, hilarious and welcoming adults awaiting them.
That took place after their seclusion for some extended period.
What was taking place, in particular the transformation-taking place from one social stage to the other was characterised by transition through a series of actions that added some concrete dimension that effectively replaced the less enchanting oral narratives. The transition took place following maturity of the physical body in biological terms.
The body had so transformed as to attain the capacity to replicate itself, under certain conditions. Crossing the river was one such instance of transformation.
The young men were symbolically moving from one stage (of childhood) to one of adulthood. This came following a period of seclusion, where they were taken out of the community to which they had all along belonged. The period of seclusion was equally symbolic.
The young men were transitioning to the next higher stage. After seclusion, accompanied and characterised by a well-designed curriculum calculated to facilitate the reintegration, not of the young boys, but this time the reintegration of young men who had left behind the childhood state,
The welcoming party across the river symbolised the adult community into which they were being reintegrated as full members. The initiates were expected, once equipped with the teachings during seclusion, to preserve and pass down its traditions to future generations. They possessed the knowledge and skills to ensure independence of their community.
Qualified senior citizens who superintended over their teaching had inculcated supporting values into their minds. Africa makes uses of symbols and symbolic actions, representations and expressions to add glamour and appeal to what would otherwise be some dreary oral renditions.
Memory is entrenched and the same actions are thus easy to repeat the following year when there is another transition class engaging in the rite of passage.
My story is about the mask that the transitioning young boys wore when they approached the opposite bank of the river. River crossing, as indicated, symbolised the movement to another stage in the unending cycle of life.
In this case, it is that part of the broader cycle that is confined to the terrestrial plane. There would follow the stage of more fundamental and probably more fundamental one when life exits the earthly stage to enter the spiritual realm.
The rituals are accordingly more elaborate. The mask on the other hand consolidates and complements the symbol of river crossing. The young men this time are no longer, what they used to be.
They have acquired a new identity with new roles in the community. What is behind the mask is something new. The newness is exposed once the river has been crossed and the awaiting pomp and pageantry complete the process when the masks are removed and revelry ensues.
In fact, the masks are accompanied by costumes stretching from head to toe. The message this time is more complete. The entire body is covered and this symbolises total transformation and total transitioning.
Music, wild dancing and ululations await the men who shed their pre-puberty identities and roles, never again to assume them. As I pointed out in the last article, the idea of irreversibility is captured through the multiple images of an earth mound (grave for the dead stage) the stones to complement the metaphor of death and the African grave with gravestones and indeed, the ash to underpin the fact that the whole process is irreversible.
There is science, use of symbolism, application of metaphor, representations, and expressions that, in combination, come up with a powerful African cultural and cosmological story told in a scintillating and captivating fashion. This is Africa at her best, though sometimes betrayed by us who stick to exotic paradigms tick style, in the form of scholarship and academy. As I often say, time is coming when some of us will represent Africa more faithfully and, in the process, discard the self-appointed proxies.
Dealing with African phenomena requires empathy. I remember well when one Brigadier General in the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) told me about some cultural practices done in his community. It involved consecrated beer dedicated to the ancestral spirits. The beer was rendered inaccessible to the crafty and professional men and women of science (you are happier when they are referred to as witches and wizards). These purveyors of Ancient African Science (ASA) sometimes liberally endowed with the science of ancient times are able to nullify what the ritual beer sought to achieve.
In order to negate their nefarious machinations, a clay pot containing ritual beer dedicated to the ancestral spirits, was painted with white ash, in the form of chevron patterns. We are back to ash that found several applications in the African cultural and spiritual domains. I did promise the Army General that I was going to crack the nut that looked seemingly too hard to crack. It was a story that changed my outlook on certain African phenomena.
I began to question a lot of things that were passing as art. The chevron is without doubt art, or let me say African art.
I have been met with pleasant surprises as I researched for my forthcoming book. There are writers who argue that functional considerations preceded artistic one.
Beaded talismans and amulets were used first and foremost to protect their wearers. This makes sense if we get ourselves into the minds of ancients who posited a world replete with negative powers, negative energies and negative forces that demanded negation through various fortification and protective measure.
I have come to the realisation that sometimes a tiny spark starts a raging conflagration. I have been reading about jewelry such as gemstones that preceded glass beads.
Organic materials, especially emanating from hunting engagements constituted the earliest forms of jewelry alongside items such as stone, hone, bone and other organic materials.
Some of these had some spiritual dimension to them, implying that they were functional and at the same time aesthetic. Functionality couched in art has a stronger appeal and potency to counter the activities of witches and wizards.
Just wait till you get hold of my next book.
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter