Ancestors and Elders

My research in Owo, Nigeria, revealed to me three broad ways ancestors were remembered there. In the ako ceremony hundreds of pieces of commemorative cloth were woven and a life-sized effigy of a recent ancestor was carried through the streets before it was buried (Poynor 1987) (Fig. 1). Commemorative rituals at paternal ancestral shrines (oju'po) venerated several generations of named ancestors. A retablo carved or modeled in relief backed the altar, and sculpted heads (osanmasinmi) decorated it (Fig. 2). Annual egungun masquerade events entertained and honored unnamed ancestors in general through the performance of masquerade (Poynor 1978a) (Fig. 3). Each family created its remembrances in its own way.In this issue of African Arts, several elders have chosen to remember, through different means, those who paved the way for our own explorations of the histories of the African arts—our academic ancestors. We recognize our predecessors from many places and over great spans of time. We are indebted to generations of African elders who not only passed information from one generation to the next but also shared their knowledge with those who visited their communities inquiring about the art, performances, rituals, and practices they created.1 Another set of antecedents includes those European colonial officers, missionaries, and eventually scholars, who provided a wealth of information in colonial reports, travel writing, mission accounts, academic papers, publications, and other sources that formed a strong foundation on which to build our investigations of the arts of Africa.2 However, for this issue in celebration of the fifty years of African Arts, we limit our discussion to individuals who were working fifty years ago and the preparation of their students—the precise time African Arts made its appearance. It was a time marked by the end of the colonial era in Africa and the beginning of African independence.We chose to limit our study to these “ancestors” for several reasons. It is that generation that was active in North American academia at the time. For the most part the scholars discussed here trained a large number of students who carried out fresh research on the continent. Arnold Rubin's vision for African art studies is acknowledged in Monica Visona's First Word. Roy Sieber's impact is remembered by Roslyn Walker. Herbert Cole reminisces about Douglas Fraser's career. Lisa Aronson acknowledges Joanne Eicher's role in looking at the arts of textiles and dress. Although he was not working in the United States at that precise period, Ekpo Eyo, as Director of the Nigerian Department of Antiquities, welcomed great numbers of American researchers to Nigeria and encouraged their work. He also emboldened young Nigerians to pursue graduate studies in the United States. One of those, Babatunde Lawal, pays homage to him in this issue. Finally, Henry Drewal and Danny Dawson have solicited oriki (praise poems) that honor Robert Farris Thompson. We trust that in remembering these ancestors, memories of other elders and ancestors will be evoked.In preparing for dissertation research in Nigeria, I planned to study leadership arts as indexes of change, connecting the court of the eastern Yoruba kingdom of Owo to that of ancient Ife and the Edo court at Benin. My proposal had been inspired by Ekpo Eyo, whose recent excavations at Owo demonstrated that the oral histories of ancestral connections to Ile-Ife were backed up by terra cotta objects found at Igbo ‘Laja3 (see Figs. 8a, 9b, and 10 in Lawal, this issue.) Eyo talked with me at Indiana and convinced me that I might use objects, performances, and oral histories to investigate those relations. On arrival in Nigeria, however, I realized that political realties required me to change topics. I recognized that an array of arts memorialized the lives of ancestors, connecting them to elders, who in turn linked living progeny to forebears (Poynor 1978b). Ancestors and elders played vital roles in that culture even into the late twentieth century, and their importance, memories of them among the living, and links to the spirit world were still experienced through ritual, performance, and art.In discussing the importance of ancestor veneration in Africa, Igor Kopytoff pointed out that “the African emphasis is clearly not on how the dead live but on the way they affect the living” (Kopytoff 1971). In considering the “ancestors” of our discipline(s), we too look at the different ways in which our academic forebears have affected us—providing foundations on which to build, expanding the range of arts we investigate, influencing our thinking and our methodologies. While this anniversary issue explores those scholars who were working at the time of the journal's introduction, I also argue that they worked at a time when a new world order had only recently been forged and explore how they used it and took advantage of many forces at work beyond the academic world.I was privileged to come into one of the disciplines (art history) at this precise moment—1967. I thus bore witness, sometimes unconsciously, to those numerous factors. Fresh from completing a BFA in sculpture at the San Francisco Art Institute, I was ignorant of both art history as a discipline and of African studies as a focus.4 In my first African art history class at Indiana University I sat shoulder to shoulder with a young Nigerian, Babatunde Lawal. Our position at the center of the first row demonstrated our intentions to listen closely to Roy Sieber, a driving force in African humanities at Indiana. At the end of one class, Sieber distributed subscription cards for a new publication: african arts/arts d'afrique. I subscribed, and the first issue arrived in my mail soon after (Fig. 4). Little did Tunde and I know that history was in the making—that the magazine would become the major academic journal for the young discipline, that our instructor would be recognized as one of its ancestors, or that the two of us might one day be among its elders.While we benefitted fifty years ago from a wide range of circumstances, we did not fully understand them or question them. What was it that brought together clusters of Africanist academics to explore such a wide range of topics in the African humanities? We accepted that specialists in African art history, anthropology, ethnomusicology, history, literatures, linguistics, and folklore were in place, but we did not wonder why or how these scholars had come together at Indiana or had been funded. We accepted NDFL and Fulbright fellowships, but we did not question how or why they were available. We took advantage of weekly speakers and enrolled in courses taught by internationally known visiting scholars, but we assumed this was standard for any ranking university. But the scholars researching and teaching African expressive culture in the decade in which African Arts made its appearance were not only connected to the academic study of the visual arts on the continent, but they were also part of a dizzying set of political, ideological, and international phenomena.The era in which the journal entered my consciousness was one that saw the culmination of events that dramatically changed the world over several decades: the end of World War II, the Korean conflict, and the Cold War. And Vietnam was still something students thought about on an almost daily basis. The period preceding the 1960s had evidenced shifting global political, economic, and military alliances. It seemed the map of Africa was in constant change. By the end of the 1950s and the beginning of the 1960s, almost all African nations had wrested independence from colonial overseers. The prevailing emphasis within these countries was self-determination; each newly independent nation focused on nation building, its own survival, and achieving unity within its own borders. But it was apparent that cooperation across national boundaries was essential to development as well. Global and regional organizations quickly emerged to address political, economic, and security concerns. Moreover, the United States and the Soviet Union were entangled in a contest over the ideologies and allegiances of nonaligned nations, especially those just gaining independence.The purpose of this article is not to critique the roles of within the of the Cold but those of American our ancestors on one of the Cold our by their with the military in to the Soviet I I did wonder why my study of the Yoruba was through a The and students in African that I were in the of and were by African African history, African nations as they from the of in my the visual of the continent. We were not in a new of we saw as out to the In many of my students had just from in Africa by the and it was that that a large number to our (Fig. was among the of in its purpose was to to the and the numbers of in other with of different to other many to graduate at that art history, anthropology, history, or and to about the they had the who with me at Indiana were and in art history, in history, and in the intentions of academics and students the political of the of of African and the of the Cold War did for those In my own at the the of for international or research travel was not I thought it had to with an American emphasis on on knowledge beyond in with other it was that emerged as a major of the the Cold War and brought about for our academic studies of The of focused on the development of that into nations at the of as an international security up to the in and the for American It was “the into of a and of performance by the brought a of and for and In and created the and But was not the only to come from this new by of the for a position in the international was the of the also in to a generation of students to for in and did however, address and It for and and studies A major of the American was with nonaligned nations in Africa, the and the thus provided to international studies of the brought together clusters of scholars in of African culture and the expressive through anthropology, through history, through and still through art history or and While scholars in these disciplines on their own they at and Fulbright in to the and or which and The who had and to out their they would be to become part of a of international At the time that I a Fulbright to work in Nigeria for a other students in the Indiana them as well. those the arts were and in art history, in history, in anthropology, and in University had its African through a from the beginning in The quickly and in it was as a the driving force Indiana African to Indiana as a with a strong humanities In he was in two of the most in African art and ethnomusicology, Roy Sieber and had been the first to a in African art at an American university. He the study of the and its to and to the that to their of the as an for and and study of and textiles and to the boundaries of we “the before its Sieber was in the students explore objects first in the Indiana University Art and Sieber students in African art history any other but he also students in anthropology, and history, and most of them have been with and (Fig. in both American and African a and for from an as in The of in Africa among the and the of of in the 1950s and in in him as a driving force in African in history, art history, anthropology, and in weekly humanities the of Sieber and Sieber's I Robert Farris and from and to the In to weekly the African also brought scholars in for I African with African folklore with African with and African with to the at Indiana in the arts of Africa in art history, who shared many graduate with who had work at to on the of the my was through at my in African was and by with scholars and students from many of the in which Africa was of them I when they in the weekly humanities or as visiting The is thus to a large on that its in African studies be to the late with the study of African to World War II, had African into the the known of those in African humanities the period in was Robert Farris Thompson. He had the at in and on as in on the continent, Yoruba and him to the of of those across the to out ways the visual antecedents in the and the and inspired not only students of African art but also great numbers of of the academic study of the many students at but for research beyond the of that visited he me on ways to my visited Owo he named in the that would be of for my He shared Yoruba with center for African that its in the from time ago is that at Although I did not have with when I was a I of its through graduate students of my own who had The in Africa was evidenced a when the in thinking on and was in of of the art had in at the and had an art history at and and African art in found in with on African American to look the of African art or they In he an on in Art in However, after Africa and from to visiting and he to be in and African of art and he had on the for on African art and but he used African art to students to be of their however, had In had to Africa and had African in in the On on from study in in to and to to African had for African and The inspired by African and (Fig. had the art history in the to study of the arts of Africa, and the of Douglas him in and a number of students who in the arts of Africa, and several scholars, sometimes from in the worked to the of the American of and of the for African taught and taught at before to was at for a before to the in and the first major American in African studies at University in (Fig. was the most in academia at the time to that African culture across the their many were the arts as in African on both of the A of young trained at in Africa, the and the African and African American in American of such as and in the study of the visual arts in completing at Roy Sieber a at to students made a impact on my own My in was with when he visited Indiana for a But it is who most in my had carried out research in Nigeria the late and had time in Owo, I did research many was with as I know from my own was to on the we discussed my me a of 10 from time in Owo to use as I saw (see Figs. University from in African art was in in art, and in The in provided for looking at the arts of Africa, he shared with Sieber arrived at in to as of African art and for a decade after at the Nigerian Department of for of objects from and with excavations at in that to a history for African art and it in time had a and to me about to Owo, information he had on Owo, and even that of my He to to While of the objects he had on to Owo, he also that such as at work in the (Fig. me to in a and to an article on Edo culture and its impact to issue on the arts of for African Arts African at in was by an who the of in the By he was at the he an in which were linguistics, and (Fig. Although had been in in he was in connections the and North to in the the importance of and history in Africa in not only own discipline but the of African many in was the role of He African in African which by scholars and But many of the of the he was as a the of the with and a for beginning scholars recently from to them were Herbert and Babatunde African into the encouraged in the many of the arts in It was here that and the journal african arts/arts in of the Arts and the of the which not only global arts but the that The was to the and of and its and publications, the been a driving force in the study of African teaching at in of the arts of the in Nigeria was on years of from and from encouraged students to look at the of art in other from a For at in at the of he a great number of students not only in the study of African and art but also in and American a generation to art, in of teaching encouraged students to look not only at but also to their own them on American of and the of on (Fig. of of Rubin's for students in of the of African art and that in their own I to use of them in my own was an of African Arts, planned for the of with Sieber, an of the for the of Art and and the Arts of the African and as its Rubin's did not him when both and were in the humanities beyond art The Department of had been in The Arts was in from anthropology, art history, folklore and and The the development of on the The Arts was eventually World Arts and in it with the and in and from the in were the arts of Africa (art and in by and the African at the University of as a center for and for its in African and literatures, as a for the study of the visual arts as well. both and and an on Africa, was a major in in the study of the at the to history and Art in Africa provided a an of art is it in a that how change over time Henry Drewal the Department of Art in as of Art and University its to Africa over years with the Nigerian in the University of this Joanne research on Nigerian and textiles and to at had as an and for graduate studies in and the late 1960s taught in the Department of and a of or graduate the study of and with great and from other disciplines to in and a at I my on textiles in was that I had for a and me to the next (Poynor at the University of in with only two each in political and its first in and African By the had three two specialists in and one each in history, and linguistics, and political Although not with the a art research on taught in the Art Department from to He the arts of Africa and for the University and was an to African Arts 1971). as visiting through in worked with Roy of the University to the of the and a of which the for three to in I was to While I on the of the I also a graduate in African art and was by in the in had arrived in as of the of Art and brought as of African University of an African in with the of both and the art and with the Art on to its African the University of several had African in the 1960s and the of African American and African was in after change in the In the art on the me as art and the art In the Department of and Joanne to The Eicher's brought about great in African through specialists with many scholars forged on their For Robert taught at and he was a in the African impact on him to the study of African of the of Art in from the and of were the on the arts of African a folklore of Sieber, at University and a at in Sieber at the University of Herbert taught history at in the history of in Africa to with and art of in and and and of in African who had with at work in the in numerous publications, the connections and their visual art In he played a role in African art and at beginning in research on art used in to about of Yoruba In he was by who worked with and on many Yoruba art history in the of of the most in the study of African art history in the is the new at is the of Arts and of African and African American teaching at and in He information on the and arts of the and to the and the role of in who taught at the University of worked for of time in Africa, especially among the many on the arts of eastern were for students of the expressive of the several and or individuals the arts of Although Sieber had the first American in African art history at the University of for years after he Africanist in the arts played a role Roy arrived in Roy was eventually by a of and art that made a major center for the study of African arts for a Roy in art history from to in arrived in and in art history him in for and as of the in the taught at did not have a major of scholars at any one several individuals worked at there. taught at the work among the beginning in the visual and the the art history in Sieber taught at a force at the Art of with teaching on both among the Yoruba in Nigeria and on in trained in at taught at of terra cotta heads in the of to out and taught both African art and studies from to researching the art of and the years he on art of the to the University of in the in a in African in the not after its The was the with of African African with the of Henry on in the taught and but also the It was in that the first on African in Babatunde teaching African and arts at University in taught at the University of Ife Nigerian who arrived to after a in Nigeria was Ekpo Eyo, who the at the University of in Eyo had made an impact through work in Nigeria as an and as of the Department of a of scholars African art studies in different ways found their ways to were with the of who the arts of the of also worked on of culture from that new in studies and In the also and In the Art Department and on work in the of Nigeria and in a taught African American art history but also the arts of the Yoruba in the of African American to to taught African and African American art at the University of North at from through and art history and are a graduate At the University of taught the study of African the roles art in the several of the in were to or researching the arts of Africa and the first taught at beginning in he as of the of and the folklore African Art in the the of art objects and the for which they were Although not the and in Africa a generation of on the importance of the and its art trained in both art history and at was at as in both art history and both in Africa and on this of the out in the and He on African and and on African folklore in the new individuals taught at the University of of taught work in Nigeria and especially made an in the of Art Art was who the ways in which and art in In the a and art in also trained by taught at the University of research among the beginning in and for several to In The in African which he first in a at Indiana University in he the emphasis from of to the the role of the in and many are at of and that are in the lives of those who on the arts are from such of out a generation of ancestors and the elders who were in at the time of the first decade of African Arts and of their just how and to understand the ancestors who were working fifty years ago that through be a but in the it that we many connections and that our own ancestors and us that we are of a

Altar · Ancestor · Archaeology · Art · Art history · Ceremony · Colonialism · Genealogy · Sociology · The arts · Visual arts · African history and culture studies · Anthropology · Architecture, Design, and Social History · Financial Crisis of the 21st Century · History

• Aku-Aku

  Thor Heyerdahl•The South African Archaeological…•1958

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• Red Gold of Africa

  P E Lovejoy, Eugenia W Herbert•African Economic History•1985

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• Traditional Textiles in Owo, Nigeria

  Robin Poynor•African Arts•1980

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• Papa Ibra Taal

  Bob Barde•African Arts•1977

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• Ako Figures of Owo and Second Burials in Southern Nigeria

  Robin Poynor•African Arts•1987

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• The Arts of the Edo-Speaking Peoples outside Benin City

  Frank Willett•African Arts•1976

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• The Egungun of Owo

  Robin Poynor•African Arts•1978

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• Art History in Africa

  Sidney Littlefield Kasfir, Jan Vansina•African Arts•1986

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• The Symbolic Structure of Baluba Caryatid Stools

  Jack Flam, Jack D Flam•African Arts•1971

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• Africa in Time-Perspective. A Discussion of Historical Reconstruction from Unwritten Sources

  C W Newbury, Colin Newbury et al.•History and Theory•1966

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• The Affecting Presence

  John Povey, Robert Plant Armstrong•African Arts•1971

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• Marks of Civilization

  Karen Stevenson, Arnold Rubin•African Arts•1989

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• African Images. Essays in African Iconology

  Amelia Moore, A C Moore et al.•Journal of Religion in Africa•1976

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• Iron, Gender, and Power

  Candice Goucher, Eugenia W Herbert•The International Journal of…•1995

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• Art History in Africa

  Daniel F Mccall, Jan Vansina•Art History in Africa•2014

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• James Porter of Howard

  Donald F Davis•The Journal of Negro History•1985

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• An Interview with Lois Mailou Jones

  Charles H Rowell•Callaloo•1989

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• Tribal Sculpture and the Festival of Britain

  William Fagg•Man•1951

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• Red Gold of Africa

  Nigel Barley, Eugenia W Herbert•Man•1985

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• On the Identification of Individual Carvers

  Frank Willett, John Picton•Man•1967

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• Ife in the History of West African Sculpture

  Thurstan Shaw, Frank Willett•Man•1968

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• Ifa Divination

  William A Lessa, William Bascom•Journal for the Scientific Study…•1970

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• Ancestors as Elders in Africa

  Open Access•Igor Kopytoff•Africa•1971

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