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| Title: | Avatar of Power: Southern Kuba Masquerade Figures in a Funerary Context |
| Author: | Binkley, David A. |
| Year: | 1987 |
| Periodical: | Africa: Journal of the International African Institute |
| Volume: | 57 |
| Issue: | 1 |
| Pages: | 75-97 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | Congo (Democratic Republic of) |
| Subjects: | Kuba funerals masquerades Architecture and the Arts Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) |
| External links: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/1160183 https://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pao:&rft_dat=xri:pao:article:4011-1987-057-00-000004 |
| Abstract: | Research among two Kuba-related groups (Northern Kete and Southern Bushoong) in south-central Zaire indicates that the appearance of masquerade figures during initiation rituals both reinforces and validates distinctions of power in Kuba culture. Furthermore, funerals for initiated men in conjunction with masquerade performance provide a setting in which some of the activities relating to these distinctions in power are acted out. As Southern Kuba initiation rituals occur infrequently, funerals are an important vehicle for the ritual affirmation of the power and authority of titleholders. In addition, funerals provide the principal ritual field for the acting-out of the wealth of visual and verbal performance genres which are part and parcel of the initiation experience. The author describes the preparations for the funeral masquerade, the funeral performance, and the control of ritual performance by the male senior titleholders. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in French. |
