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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue | WorldCat |
Title: | The Masked Figure and Social Control: The Madinka Case |
Author: | Weil, Peter M. |
Year: | 1971 |
Periodical: | Africa: Journal of the International African Institute |
Volume: | 41 |
Issue: | 4 |
Period: | October |
Pages: | 279-293 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Gambia |
Subjects: | social control Manding masks Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) |
External links: | https://www.jstor.org/stable/1158919 https://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pao:&rft_dat=xri:pao:article:4011-1971-041-00-000025 |
Abstract: | Within a historical and comparative context, this paper describes and analyses the role of masked figures in social control among the Mandinka of Gambia. After describing the two basic forms of masked figures, the author discusses the origins of the masks, Mandinka beliefs about the masks, and the structure of the masked-figure association. Furthermore a direct relationship is demonstrated between the problems of rule-application in hierarchical communities and the presence and behaviour of masked figures. Changes in socio-cultural milieu, in which sacred masked figures have functioned, will result in secularization of the masked figures, which will disappear. Ref., notes, plates, French summary. |