Makishi: Mask Characters of Zambia is a catalog from an exhibit at the Fowler Museum at UCLA. The book, however, is more than a description of an exhibit. The author of the book, Manuel Jordán, examines twenty-four specific African mask characters from Zambia. Jordán is a widely-recognized authority on the arts and cultures of Angolan and Zambian tribal groups. He has been the Phyllis Wattis Curator of the Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas at the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts at Stanford University since 2001. Jordán conducted exceptionally engaged field research, emphasizing social process and changing sociopolitical circumstances.
In this volume, Jordán focuses on the masquerade traditions of one cluster of related central African peoples who happen to reside around the area where a ninth-century mask was excavated in Angola, extending into Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Thus, we find the mask characters of Chokwe, Lunda, Luvale/Lwena, Luchazi, and Mbunda peoples known as makishi in Zambia and in their territories in Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The volume gives a typological model for Zambian makishi which aims to complement earlier documented categorizations of mask types. The author states that makishi characters can be distinguished by observing their distinctive physical and behavioral attributes. Represented are examples of sociable female and male masks, as well as ambiguous and aggressive makishi, all of which are used in the mukanda initiation process.
Jordán in the last section of the book focuses on behavioral and physical attributes of masked performers, which are considered according to the typology set forth in the essay. It is stated that the masks were once worn in a variety of dynamic performative contexts and that each category of mask had distinctive ways of relating to other types of makishi and to various audiences and audience members. Jordán provides further insights into the form, function, and context of specific masks in this corpus and, based on recent field documentation, develops an alternative form of categorizing that highlights a variety of individual mask characters by their defined physical attributes and those that become evident in performance.
Makishi: Mask Characters of Zambia explores Africa’s continuing traditional art forms and practices. The masquerade traditions of Zambian peoples demonstrate that African cultural heritage is in a constant state of reformulation. The author implies that though they have long histories of use, the masks illustrated here are constantly being updated to reflect changing social circumstances, foreign encounters, and the dynamics of social interaction in a rapidly changing world. Jordán’s book celebrates twenty-four outstanding masks, with color photographs showing the masks being worn by individuals in initiations and public events. It offers an innovative focus on stylistic typology and an examination of the ways that the meanings and identities of masks may be transformed in relation to their audiences and contexts of use. The book is a good resource both for museum studies and also for the study of African folklore.
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[Review length: 495 words • Review posted on March 2, 2009]