Course Description:

This seminar investigates some of the diverse ways in which West African peoples have articulated their sense of who they are by means of the buildings they construct and the material culture they create. We will focus on architecture in historical perspective, and on the contemporary phenomenon of revitalized ritual and folklore.

The course begins by asking fundamental questions about Art History. Is the discipline able to encompass broad issues of contemporary African culture and identity? Is African Art itself a meaningful concept? Or is it hopelessly bound to Western culture?

At the same time, the introductory meetings offer a critical reevaluation of other analytical categories. If we retain the concept of "African art," contemporary culture forces us to redefine its boundaries to include such largely twentieth century phenomena as folkloric dance and the re-creation of self-consciously "traditional" religious rituals. And the African subjects of our study, too, must be redefined, insofar as the "ethnic group," viewed in historical perspective, ceases to exist as a fixed feature of the African cultural landscape. Ethnic identity is itself in constant change. What is ethnicity anyway, and how is ethnic identity related to culture?

The second part of the course, beginning with week 4, focuses on case studies. We begin with socio-religious ritual. In the modern, multiethnic state, how do groups use "traditional" rituals to articulate their sense of social and cultural identity? We then turn to the closely related phenomenon of self-consciously recreated "folkloric" rituals, as another means of expressing identity in the multiethnic state. The culmination of the second unit will be our study of contemporary painting as another avenue to define and express cultural identity.

In the aftermath of the Nigerian Civil War (since 1971) a group of Igbo artists have used their art as a means to affirm their Igbo-ness. It is our good fortune that the National Museum of African Art in Washington, is presenting a major exhibition of contemporary Igbo art this fall. The curator, Dr. Simon Ottenberg, has kindly offered to come to Wesleyan to lecture and to introduce his show. In addition, the Smithsonian has organized a two-day symposium on the exhibit, to be held October 19-20.

We will take a fieldtrip to Washington, leaving Saturday afternoon October 18, and returning Monday evening the 20th. We will attend the symposium on Sunday and visit the exhibit with Dr Ottenberg. We will travel by Amtrak Metroliner, together with the members of the African Art seminar at Princeton. Professor Dominique Malaquais of Princeton and I recently ran a study tour of Senegal. We have decided to turn the Amtrak coach into a rolling seminar. We will use the trip down to present materials on the exhibition and we will use part of the return trip to analyse the show.

Following our field trip, we will turn to the final segment of the seminar, which is an historical study of the architecture of Senegal. Again, we will focus on the connection between architecture and identity. How did people use the style of the houses they constructed to express their sense of cultural identity? In Senegambia, the history of architecture has long been intimately related to the history of "ethnic" identity. By studying 16th - 18th century houses, we can learn much about the history of precolonial ethnic identities. The problem is, these houses no longer exist. So how do we reconstruct the history of non-existent structures? That is the challenge of the final month of this course.

Weekly attendance is required, as is participation on the field trip. (It would be possible to attend only the Sunday symposium, for those of you who have inescapable course commitments for Monday, October 21). Each week's reading assignment should be done on time, as the course will be run as a seminar, with discussion centered around and deriving from that week's reading. There is only one text to be purchased. The other readings will be available as xeroxes. Each of you will have responsibility for leading a discussion of the readings for one week.

There will be two 5-page papers due early in the course, and a 12-page paper due on December 4. The first paper, due October 2, will require that you apply some of the theoretical readings to a case study of your own choosing. N.B. One option is to write about the (re)creation of a local tradition, namely the Wesleyan Convocation. In order to choose this topic, however, you must be present at the Convocation... on the afternoon of September 5th. Bring your notebook...or a video camera.

The second short paper is due the Thursday after our return from Washington. I will make the detailed assignment during our field trip.

The long paper is a research assignment. You should plan to choose a topic -- with my assistance, please, and with my approval -- by October 9. Here, I briefly suggest that you consider the following broad themes: architectural history (case study; historical focus); an instance of folkloric ritual or the history of a national dance troupe; an historicized ritual (that is, self-consciously referring to local tradition). I will ask each of you to make a brief and concise (20 minutes) presentation on your work-in-progress, beginning on the week of October 30. (If enrollment increases significantly during drop-add, this requirement will become optional).

Please provide your email address. This will make it easier to provide important information about the field trip

Course Syllabus:

September 11 - Does African art exist? Does African art history exist? What is the proper subject of the discipline? of this seminar? A colonial legacy: the mystification and aestheticizing of "African art" Picasso and the myth of "the primitive" Towards a contextual and historical approach

Readings: K. Anthony Appiah, Why Africa? Why Art? pp.5-8, in Africa, The Art of a Continent. Guggenheim Museum. New York. Suzanne Blier, "Enduring Myths of African Art," in Africa, The Art of a Continent. pp.26-32.

September 18 - Categories: defining units of study Ethnic groups, ethnicity and the process of identity formation The relationship between ethnicity and culture Culture as dynamic process

Readings: Wim van Binsbergen, "Popular culture: the dynamics of African cultural & ethnic identity in a context of globalization," in Jos van der Klei, ed. Popular Culture, Africa, Asia and Europe. Ceres, Utrecht, 1995, pp. 7-40. Sidney Kasfir, "One tribe, one style?" in History in Africa, 1981.

September 25 - The (re)creation of tradition & the articulation of identity The uses of tradition in contemporary Africa Global examples, from Wesleyan's Convocation to Senegal Case studies: "traditional" art and ritual & contemporary ethnic identity Jola men's initiation ('bukut') Bamana puppet theatre

Readings: Mary Jo Arnoldi, "Material narratives & the negotiation of identities through objects in Malian theatre," in Arnoldi, et. al., African Material Culture,167-187. Peter Mark, The Wild Bull and the Sacred Forest. (on reserve in the library)

October 1 (Wednesday) First paper due; 5 pages; a case study of the re-creation of "tradition"

October 2 - Rosh Hashonah; no class

October 9 - Expanding the boundaries of art history in contemporary West Africa: Folkloric ritual and folkloric dance

Readings: Patrick McAllister, "What a song & dance about identity," xeroxed paper, conference,"Identity in Africa." Mark, "Folkloric culture and cultural identity among the Jola of Casamance," in van der Klei, ed., Popular Culture, pp. 185-206; or: "Art, ritual, and folklore," Cahiers d'Etudes Africaines, 1994, pp. 563-584.

October 16- Contemporary Painting in West Africa Traditional forms vs. modern art; rupture or continuity? The Oshogbo School Art and identity in Contemporary Nigeria Guest lecture, Dr. Simon Ottenberg, the National Museum of African Art. "New Dimensions: The contemporary Art of seven Nigerians."

Readings: V. Mudimbe, "Reprendre, enunciations and strategies in con- temporary African arts," in Africa Explores, 20th Century African Art. Center for African Art, pp. 276-287. Simon Ottenberg, TBA M. W. Mount, African Art, the years since 1920.pp. 62-73,124-159.

Saturday October 18 - Monday October 20: Field trip to National Museum of African Art, Washington D.C. for exhibit, "Four contemporary Nigerian artists" and to attend symposium at the Museum. Departure by Amtrak from New York, Saturday afternoon; return Monday evening; On Amtrak - joint seminar with Prof. Dominique Malaquais of Princeton University Additional details, including lodging and transportation schedules to be provided by September 18.

Readings: (xeroxed conference papers, "Identity in Africa," Leiden, 1997): Dmitri van den Bersselaar, "World religions, local religious concepts and Igbo identity." Simon Ottenberg, "Igbo ethnicity & the contemporary artists of Nsukka." Second Paper due, October 23.

Part II - Constructing Identity: Architecture in Senegambia from the pre-colonial period to the post-colony

October 30 - Introduction to West African architecture Overview of Senegambian precolonial history and architecture Casamance "traditional" architecture

Readings: J.-P. Bourdier & Trinh Minh-Ha, Drawn from African Dwellings. You are responsible for the entire book, but see next 2 assignments for specific chapters.

November 6 - Precolonial architecture of Senegambia, 1500-1850 Flexible identites or, "Who was 'white' in precolonial West Africa? identitarian discourse and 'Portuguese style' houses" The first global style: from West Africa to Brazil to...India

Readings: Mark, "Constructing identity: 16th & 17th century architecture in the Gambia-Geba region..." History in Africa, 1995, pp.307-327. Bourdier and Minh-Ha, chapter 10 (pp. 233-277).

November 20 - Islamic architecture in Senegambia The history of Islam in the Western Sudan: The Mali empire and the 14th century mosque of Jenné; 18th century Islamic revolution & mosque architecture in Futa Toro 19th century Islam in Casamance Mouride mosques in contemporary Senegal.

Readings: Bourdier & Minh-Ha, ch. iv (73-127), ch. 6 (136-176).

December 4 - Colonial architecture, the embodiment of European power & authority Economic power: trading posts and commercial houses; Historical memory & the reformulation of the "maison des esclaves" Political power: building administrative control Dakar, 1895-1939. Post-colonial architecture and conclusions Traditional, "traditional", ritual and folklore; creating and re-creating a sense of common being.

Research Papers Due.