The Mande Blacksmiths
Title | The Mande Blacksmiths PDF eBook |
Author | Patrick R. McNaughton |
Publisher | |
Pages | 276 |
Release | 1988 |
Genre | Crafts & Hobbies |
ISBN | 9780253336835 |
" ... Finely crafted scholarship. Elegant and graceful, yet packed with knowledge and information, it embodies the aesthetic qualities which it describes and explores." American Ethnologist "The text is detailed and informative, and enjoyable reading ..." Choice "The Mande Blacksmith is an important book ... sensitive, sympathetic, multifaceted, and thorough ..." African Arts "McNaughton's Mande Blacksmiths is undeniably the most profound study of African artists yet published." Ethnoarts " ... penetrating ... McNaughton boldly grapples with the thorniest issues related to his subject and articulates them with clarity and precision." International Journal of African Historical Studies " ... a work in the best tradition of ethnographic research ... critical reappraisal, innovative inquiry, and fresh observation ... make this book an invaluable fund of new material on Mande societies ..." American Anthropologist "McNaughton ... provides an important interpretation of these artists' conceptual place as members of a complex culture." Religious Studies Review Examining the artistic, technological, social, and spiritual dimensions of Mande blacksmiths, who are the sculptors of their society, McNaughton defines these artists conceptual place as extraordinary members of a complex culture.
The Mande Blacksmiths
Title | The Mande Blacksmiths PDF eBook |
Author | Patrick R. McNaughton |
Publisher | Traditional Arts of Africa |
Pages | 241 |
Release | 1993 |
Genre | Art |
ISBN | 9780253207982 |
. . . finely crafted scholarship. Elegant and graceful, yet packed with knowledge and information, it embodies the aesthetic qualities which it describes and explores. --American Ethnologist The text is detailed and informative, and enjoyable reading . . . --Choice The Mande Blacksmith is an important book . . . sensitive, sympathetic, multifaceted, and thorough . . . --African Arts McNaughton's Mande Blacksmiths is undeniably the most profound study of African artists yet published. --Ethnoarts . . . penetrating . . . McNaughton boldly grapples with the thorniest issues related to his subject and articulates them with clarity and precision. --International Journal of African Historical Studies . . . a work in the best tradition of ethnographic research. . . . critical reappraisal, innovative inquiry, and fresh observation . . . make this book an invaluable fund of new material on Mande societies . . . --American Anthropologist McNaughton . . . provides an important interpretation of these artists' conceptual place as members of a complex culture. --Religious Studies Review Examining the artistic, technological, social, and spiritual dimensions of Mande blacksmiths, who are the sculptors of their society, McNaughton defines these artists' conceptual place as extraordinary members of a complex culture.
Status and Identity in West Africa
Title | Status and Identity in West Africa PDF eBook |
Author | David C. Conrad |
Publisher | Indiana University Press |
Pages | 234 |
Release | 1995-05-22 |
Genre | History |
ISBN | 9780253112644 |
"... the contributors to Status and Identity in West Africa have swept away the dust that has obscured the study of the societies of western Sudan and have made it possible to pursue the salutory work of decolonizing the history and sociology of these regions."Â -- American Ethnologist "This discussion is among the most significant contributions that African studies can make to the contemporary global dialogue on multicultural issues." -- Choice "It is 'must' reading for anyone who works in African literature today." -- Research in African Literatures "…an indispensable guide to understanding the producers of art in the Mande world, including the art of the spoken word. The writing and arguments are clear and jargon-free…it will provide a rich harvest of detailed original research…" -- African Arts "[This] book... is the most impressive effort to look at these groups in comparative perspective. The essays fit together nicely to challenge notions that came out of colonial scholarship." -- Journal of Interdisciplinary History "... the volume makes a significant contribution to the social history and ongoing processes of cultural pluralism in West Africa." -- Journal of Religion in Africa The nyamakalaw -- blacksmiths, potters, leather-workers, bards, and other artists and specialists among the Mande-speaking peoples of West Africa -- play powerful roles in Mande society. This book presents the first full portrait of one of Africa's most powerful and least understood social groups.
Griot Potters of the Folona
Title | Griot Potters of the Folona PDF eBook |
Author | Barbara E. Frank |
Publisher | Indiana University Press |
Pages | 527 |
Release | 2022-02-02 |
Genre | Art |
ISBN | 0253058988 |
Griot Potters of the Folona reconstructs the past of a particular group of West African women potters using evidence found in their artistry and techniques. The potters of the Folona region of southeastern Mali serve a diverse clientele and firing thousands of pots weekly during the height of the dry season. Although they identify themselves as Mande, the unique styles and types of objects the Folona women make, and more importantly, the way they form and fire them, are fundamentally different from Mande potters to the north and west. Through a brilliant comparative analysis of pottery production methods across the region, especially how the pots are formed and the way the techniques are taught by mothers to daughters, Barbara Frank concludes that the mothers of the potters of the Folona very likely came from the south and east, marrying Mande griots (West African leatherworkers who are better known as storytellers or musicians), as they made their way south in search of clientele as early as the 14th or 15th century CE. While the women may have nominally given up their mothers' identities through marriage, over the generations the potters preserved their maternal heritage through their technological style, passing this knowledge on to their daughters, and thus transforming the very nature of what it means to be a Mande griot. This is a story of resilience and the continuity of cultural heritage in the hands of women.
A Bird Dance Near Saturday City
Title | A Bird Dance Near Saturday City PDF eBook |
Author | Patrick R. McNaughton |
Publisher | Indiana University Press |
Pages | 344 |
Release | 2008 |
Genre | Art |
ISBN | 0253351480 |
Captures the power of individuals and art at a single night's masquerade performance
The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay
Title | The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay PDF eBook |
Author | Patricia McKissack |
Publisher | Square Fish |
Pages | 160 |
Release | 2016-03-01 |
Genre | Juvenile Nonfiction |
ISBN | 1250113512 |
For more than a thousand years, from A.D. 500 to 1700, the medieval kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay grew rich on the gold, salt, and slave trade that stretched across Africa. Scraping away hundreds of years of ignorance, prejudice, and mythology, award-winnnig authors Patricia and Fredrick McKissack reveal the glory of these forgotten empires while inviting us to share in the inspiring process of historical recovery that is taking place today.
Empires of Medieval West Africa
Title | Empires of Medieval West Africa PDF eBook |
Author | David C. Conrad |
Publisher | Infobase Publishing |
Pages | 153 |
Release | 2010 |
Genre | Africa |
ISBN | 1604131640 |
Explores empires of medieval west Africa.