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West African Masking Traditions and Diaspora Masquerade Carnivals

History, Memory, and Transnationalism

Raphael Chijioke Njoku author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Boydell & Brewer Ltd

Published:23rd Jun '20

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

West African Masking Traditions and Diaspora Masquerade Carnivals cover

A revisionist account of African masquerade carnivals in transnational context that offers readers a unique perspective on the connecting threads between African cultural trends and African American cultural artifacts In recent decades, there has been an explosion of scholarly interest in African-styled traditions and the influence of these traditions upon the African diaspora. In this important new analysis, author Raphael Njoku explores the transnational connections between masquerade narratives and memory over the past four centuries to show how enslaved Africans became culture carriers of inherited African traditions. In doing so, he questions the scholarly predisposition toward ethnicization of African cultural artifacts in the Americas. As Njoku's research shows, the practices reenacted by the Igbo and Bight of Biafra modelers in the Americas were not exact replicas of the African prototypes. Cultural modeling is dynamic, and the inheritors of West African traditions often adapted their customs to their circumstances--altering and transforming the meaning and purpose of the customs they initially represented. With the Bantu migrations serving as a catalyst for ethnic mixing and change prior to the trans-Atlantic slave trade, African-themed cultural activities in the New World became dilutions of practices from several ethnic African and European nations. African cultures were already experiencing changes through Bantuization; in this well-researched and engagingly written scholarly work, the author explores the extension of this process beyond the African continent. This book is openly available in digital formats thanks to a generous grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Raphael Chijioke Njoku's study of West African masking forms and their impact in the Americas is a welcome exploration of the history and function of body-mask performances in the context of African initiation societies and their adaptation into Caribbean carnival events and initiation groups, like the Abakuá of Cuba. -- Ivor Miller * H-Africa *
There are several aspects of this book that work very well: the structure is very clear and easy to follow, and the notion of understanding the dynamism and evolution of masquerades in Africa first, in order to then tackle their use and transformation in the New World, is excellent and commendable, and something other scholars should undoubtedly take notice of. The comparative analysis of the evolution of masquerades on each side of the Atlantic in the nineteenth century is also fascinating, as is the juxtaposition of the effects that slavery and colonialism had on these practices in the Americas and Africa, respectively. The author has also undoubtedly a substantial knowledge of the Igbo world, which shows in the discussion -- Sirio Canos-Donnay * Folklore *
Anyone interested in masquerade and performance in the Black Atlantic will find this book informative. * JOURNAL OF FESTIVE STUDIES *

ISBN: 9781580469845

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 460g

300 pages