Pop Goes the Sacred: Dan Mask Performance and Popular Culture in Postcolonial Côte d'Ivoire

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Periodical article

Title:	Pop Goes the Sacred: Dan Mask Performance and Popular Culture in Postcolonial Côte d'Ivoire
Author:	Reed, Daniel B.
Year:	2001
Periodical:	Africa Today
Volume:	48
Issue:	4
Period:	Winter
Pages:	67-85
Language:	English
Geographic term:	Ivory Coast - Côte d'Ivoire
Subjects:	Dan masquerades dance Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) Architecture and the Arts Religion and Witchcraft
External link:	http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/africa_today/v048/48.4reed02.pdf
Abstract:	'Ge' performance in Côte d'Ivoire - an enactment of Dan religious and ethnic identity involving masks and music - is an old form that performers today manipulate in new contexts to negotiate complex identities and get things done. Gedro, a type of 'ge' that performs to entertain and demonstrate excellence in dance, incorporates influences from both traditional and popular expressive forms into a performance that consultants sometimes call 'the tradition'. In this article the author explores the ways his consultants, through Gedro performance, demonstrate their own unique, localized views of tradition and modernity, take advantage of expanding performance opportunities, and position themselves in relation to the diversifying world in which they live. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. (Journal abstract.)