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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Expressing Power and Status through Aesthetics in Mijikenda Society
Author:Orchardson-Mazrui, ElizabethISNI
Year:1998
Periodical:Journal of African Cultural Studies
Volume:11
Issue:1
Period:June
Pages:85-102
Language:English
Geographic term:Kenya
Subjects:patronage
Nyika
rituals
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
External link:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13696819808717828
Abstract:This article pinpoints the dynamic interaction of aesthetics, power and status in 'traditional' Mijikenda society (Kenya). It postulates that certain aesthetic elements articulated and legitimized the political, economic and ritual power of privileged elders, and that they visually, contextually and perceptually marked out elders vested with authority from those individuals with no authority in the society. It was in the interest of privileged elders to appropriate certain aesthetic elements and imbue them with ritual and symbolic value in order to manipulate them to their advantage within the Council of Elders ('Kambi') system which, though it is said to have been relatively egalitarian in its mode of operation, nonetheless was ruled by a small elite group. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum.
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