Book
Masked rituals of Afikpo, the context of an African art
Published for the Henry Art Gallery by the University of Washington Press • (9) • Published In 1975 • Pages: 229 , [8] leaves of plates
By: Ottenberg, Simon.
AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This source is a synthesis of the author's knowledge of the masking tradition among the Afikpo. It is an example of the genre of anthropology that describes art in terms of its cultural context. The description of the use of masks in their ritual contexts seems very detailed and is quite admirable, although many of the author's interpretations of psychological and aesthetic factors in the masking tradition appear to be unsupported and hence should be regarded as speculative. The source also includes an analysis of styles or types of the Afikpo secret society masks. This is a listing and description of twelve styles of masks. No hard data, i.e. measurements or statistical distributions, are presented. We are not even informed how many masks were examined (although the reader could calculate this information him/herself). It appears that no hard data were obtained since many of the examples cited were examined only by photograph. There is no discussion of what is meant by 'type,' 'style,' or 'substyle.' Hence, the analysis of styles appears to be quite eclectic and impressionistic. It is the least satisfying part of the book.
- SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
- Spectacles
- Representative art
- Dance
- Music
- Drama
- Adjustment processes
- Social personality
- Special garments
- cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
- Igbo
- HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
- 2003
- RegionThe area the document pertains to
- Africa
- Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
- Western Africa
- Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
- Book
- Evaluation
- Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
- Ethnologist
- Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
- Marlene Martin ; 1981
- Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
- 1951-1960
- Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
- 1951-1960
- Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
- Afikpo Village-Group, southeastern Nigeria
- NotesAdditional notes
- Simon Ottenberg
- [published in connection with an exhibition shown at the Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, May 24-June 21, 1975]
- Category 541 was used for 'masquerades' and masked rituals.
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 223-225) and index
- LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
- 74026954
- LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
- Igbo (African people)