Masks and identities in Ebira culture

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Book chapter

Title:	Masks and identities in Ebira culture
Author:	Picton, John
Book title:	Concepts of the Body/Self in Africa
Year:	1992
Pages:	67-86
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Nigeria
Subjects:	man Igbira masquerades
Abstract:	A short explanation of the meaning of the word 'ebira' (which is something you hear and something you have), the word 'ozu' (the deceased person who 'comes to someone's head'), and the word 'eku' (the domain of the dead, masquerading, masked performer) shows that there is some kind of continuity in Ebira culture between the human corpse and masquerade ('dead bodies are coming from the ground') and, via the corpse, between people once alive and 'people' now deceased. This paper first discusses a supposed extension of the 'self' beyond the temporal existence and dissolution of the body, and in particular how this extension is presented and represented. Then it describes a number of types of 'eku' (masquerades), each with its specific form, time, and season of appearance, identity, performance style etc.: 'eku?ba', the ancestral enbodiment; 'eku?c?c?, the masquerade of rubbish; 'ekuah'?t?', the masquerade of stamping feet; 'akatapa', which applies as much to a style of performance as to a distinct identity; 'eku'rah?', the masquerade of the night; and 'ekuah?r?', the masquerade of dried guinea corn leaves. The Ebira live to the southwest of the Niger-Benue confluence region of Nigeria. Notes, ref.