Wereld in Beweging: Gelede-marionetten van de Anago-Yoruba . - World in Motion Gelede Puppets of the Anago Yoruba - book review

African Arts, Spring, 2002 by Dana Rush

Hans Witte

Afrika Museum, Berg en Dal, The Netherlands, 2001. Text in Dutch and English. 98 pp., 73 color photos. EUR 23,00 softcover.

This beautifully illustrated catalogue was an effective companion to the exhibition of Gelede masks surmounted by articulated figures, or "puppet masks," that was held last year at the Afrika Museum (see review, p. 84), especially as those masks were displayed without individual didactic labels. The catalogue would have been nice to consult in the gallery space, providing insight into interpretation of the masks without distracting from the aesthetic experience. For those who do not read German or Dutch, it includes an English translation by Kevin Cook.

Just by themselves, the 73 high-quality color photographs of these one-of-a-kind, never-before-published masks make Wereld in Beweging a logical addition to any personal or institutional library. (Smaller versions of the photos are reproduced in black and white in the back, next to the English translation.) The bulk of the volume consists of descriptive and interpretive catalogue entries for each mask. This is prefaced with a brief introduction to Efe/Gelede masking traditions of Anago Yoruba peoples (known as Nago in Benin) who live at the crossroads of southeastern Benin and southwestern Nigeria. The author, Hans Witte, clearly informs the reader at the outset that a lengthy description of the purpose and function of the Gelede society, rituals, and iconographies is "beyond the scope of this study" (p. 69). He does, however, refer to a body of literature to consult for a deeper understanding of Gelede, all of which is included in the bibliography.

In the introduction Witte states that the main function of the Gelede society is to guide the female powers of "witches" to safeguard the community against their potentially dangerous disposition. He goes on to explain the important concept of the "witch," pointing out that the term is an "unnecessarily pejorative rendering of the [Yoruba] word aje," and is used only for lack of a better translation (p. 69). Aje, we learn, refers to a type of "female power" inherent in all women, all of whom are potentially "witches." The Efe/Gelede society placates and pacifies this "female power" often through mask celebrations which have two parts. Efe, the first part, is a nocturnal gathering; the Gelede masks appear in the second part the following afternoon.

Because the original collector of the masks did not pass on information about their specific geographic origin, we are told only that all of the Efe/Gelede objects in Mrs. Ursula Heijs-Voorhuis's collection (which have been in Europe since at least 1972) were acquired from the same African town or village, whose name is not specified. Therefore, the next section in the introduction addresses the possible origins of these objects. Because of particular stylistic characteristics, Witte proposes that the collection came from Benin, most likely the area between Porto Novo and Sakete, including the villages of Takon, Banigbe, and Daagbe, and possibly as far north as Pobe. The Lamida family, well-known mask carvers from the village of Daagbe, probably carved some of the masks. Throughout the catalogue great attention is paid to particular artists' hands and workshops, and the author nicely refers to Allen Roberts's article on a family of Gelede puppet-mask sculptors in south-central Benin, the only other publication to date that addresses this topic (Roberts 1992:54-60).

We next learn how puppets are used in Efe/Gelede ceremonies. By and large, it appears that one or more of these masks might perform in preparation for the nocturnal Efe ceremony. During the daytime Gelede celebration, they entertain the audience with performances, often satirical in nature, depicting a wide range of events in the daily life of a Yoruba community. Because the puppets were often made to address a particular situation in a particular village at a particular time, it is often difficult to reconstruct the original meaning of the superstructure. Add to this the fact that superstructures can be altered or replaced entirely, allowing a mask to be updated while keeping the same substructure. A new meaning based on a new social circumstance can be given to a puppet whose initial meaning has become obsolete. Thus we learn in the small section on interpreting the puppets that it is usually "impossible to identify the local events that the puppets originally referred to" (p. 72). Witte closes his introduction with the proposition that some puppet masks might have been made and used for funerals of important members of Gelede societies.

The main catalogue consists of the detailed entries for each object which are clearly divided into sections and subsections that were not as readily discernible in the installation itself. As in the exhibition, the first part, called "Efe," contains catalogue entries which go into great detail on the potential meanings of the five Efe masks: a janus-faced bird/human, a hyena, a Great Mother, and two Oro Efe masks. Then, again following the exhibition, the Alapafuja and Gelede monkey masks are discussed in a separate section called "Between Efe and Gelede."