In the Spirit and in the Flesh

all photos by the author except where otherwise notedThe Cross River, which begins in the Cameroon mountains and rolls west and then south toward the Nigerian coast, has provided a fertile climate for ritual systems and masquerades that has been amplified in part due to centuries of intense trade in agricultural products, foreign goods, and humans (Fig. 1). Prior to road travel, the Cross River acted like an umbilical cord connecting hinterland to coastline. Trade along the river sparked a chain reaction that allowed art forms to leap across ethnic, national, and international boundaries, feeding ritual associations that defy geographic and ethnic divisions. While the male ritual association Ékpè/Mgbè (the Leopard Society) is the best-known example of this, there is a vast nexus of performance traditions in which masquerades—including those by women—are abundant. In this article, I will consider patterns of concealing and revealing the female body in masquerades, rituals, and spectacles of pageantry. Through a variety of seemingly different case studies from Cross River and its diaspora, told in three acts, I will analyze how the gendered body is inscribed with meaning in ritual systems where knowledge and secrecy are highly valued and authority can be either asserted or transgressed.Act I: Africa is based upon original research on women's masquerades that completely conceal the female body, performed by the Bakor-Ejagham and their neighbors in the middle Cross River region. I explain these masquerades in light of a spectrum of women's performance traditions, possibly understood as masquerade, that reveal the female dancer's identity, or much more in the case of ritual nudity. Act 2: Caribbean follows the flow of the transatlantic slave trade to Cuba, where the Abakuá (the Cuban equivalent of the Leopard Society) reformulates Cross River traditions with new gendered meanings within a confraternity of hypermasculinity and where there is no longer a dual-gendered ritual system. Because women in Cuba are noticeably absent from Abakuá ritual, which involves inscription of the silenced female body, it was left to noninitiates such as the female printmaker Belkis Ayón (1967–1999) to respond to Abakuá through her own ritual act of reinscribing. Act 3: The Return Ticket considers how the diaspora returns to Africa with the importation of Trinidadian Carnival. In Calabar Carnival, “the biggest street party in Africa,” female performers display elaborate costumes and skin within an expanded landscape of pageantry and masquerade. So, from Cross River to the Caribbean and back again, I will trace rituals that invoke flesh and spirit and rely upon either revealing or concealing the female body.In this article, “in the flesh” refers to the physical and symbolic use of the female body/skin within performance traditions that allow individuals to engage “in the spirit,” or to access resources in the less-visible world. In addition to exploring how flesh and spirit are significant in “traditional” ritual practice, I also consider the layered meanings of flesh and spirit associated with church doctrines related to human attempts to achieve divine redemption or the joining of spirit and flesh in the process of becoming transformed and born again (within increasingly popular charismatic church movements). In light of the many meanings associated with flesh and spirit, I consider how women and masks are used to navigate and shape complex systems of power through ritual acts and bodily knowledge within local and global frameworks.The gendered body, whether it is concealed within a masquerade costume or adorned and displayed, is an important component of Cross River art and ritual. Moreover, there are many instance in the Cross River region whereby signs (writing) are drawn upon the body1—more often than not the female body—or a representation of the body. For example, older women decorate the bodies of young moninkim—girls who have undergone ritual seclusion and circumcision. With beautifully designed skin and elaborate coiffures, they emerge from the “fattening house” physically and psychologically transformed into young women (prepared for marriage) and they dance (Fig. 2). Similarly, postmenopausal women paint over incised lines on the “body” of the Bakor stone monoliths (circa seventeenth century or earlier) before the stones are ritually fed with pounded yam and palm oil at the New Yam Festival (Fig. 3). The act of reinscribing the stone's surface, like painting the body, is part of a ritual that enables the community to connect with ancestors. Elaborate coiffures and designs also appear upon the faces of skin-covered masks. Considering that skulls, a body part collected long ago by warrior societies, were a likely inspiration for these carved wooden masks covered in animal skin, the body is clearly entwined in many layers of meaning in Cross River art.The relationship between women and masking was the topic of a 1998 special issue of African Arts (edited by Sidney Kasfir and Pamela Franco) that presented a wide-ranging set of articles based in Africa and the diaspora, including an article about Ejagham women's masquerades that is relevant to my discussion. That issue of African Arts was shaped by several questions: What constitutes a masquerade? How are men's and women's masquerades different? And what does it mean to conceal or reveal one's identity within a masquerade? Those essays demonstrated how shifting our focus away from men's masquerades allows us to ask different types of questions. In that same volume, Pamela Franco (1998) presents a fascinating discussion about the history of female dress in Caribbean Carnival, which inspired me to think about the female body (dressed and undressed) in the Cross River region of Nigeria. While the study of African masquerades has been significantly shaped by research on male masquerade traditions that involve the full concealment of the performer's identity, coupled with an implied transformation of identity, my analysis is based upon the premise that the concept of masquerade should not be narrowly defined and that research on women's traditions is essential for a comprehensive understanding of performance in the Cross River region and beyond.In the middle Cross River region, women perform masquerades in full-body costumes in addition to other types of masquerades with “open face,” states of complete undress, and/or the “full reveal” of genitalia. The decision to conceal or reveal the body while dancing involves more than a decision about what to wear or not wear. Rather, these ritual strategies are part of a broader culture of bodily knowledge in which women are active participants in controlling the meaning of the female body.Images of women dancing with pots, metal trunks, feathered plumes, sculptures, and masks upon their heads throughout the Cross River region are plentiful, but these women's performances are seldom recognized as “masquerades.” A 1957 Nigeria Magazine article, “Efik Dances,” notes the popularity of women's dances in Calabar. An elaborate photospread of traditional dances at the dawn of independence reflects a popular trope that associates traditional female dances with the nation, which continues into the present. In one image, a Qua-Ejagham women, whose face is revealed, carries a wooden sculpted headdress that is called a “dance aid of unknown purpose” (Fig. 4). The article stops short of calling it a masquerade.What differentiates a masquerade from other types of performance depends upon not only the time and place, but more importantly on who is making the designation and why. The concept of masquerade is brought into being through many acts of naming. A Nigerian (male) scholar, whose friendship and humor I always appreciate, likes to joke around about my research on women's masquerades as “that woman thing,” insinuating that it exists in the margins. Unsurprisingly, women's performances are often part of a broader gender discourse in academia and beyond. This article is part of an effort to shift that discourse and to write women's bodies away from the margins.Among the Bakor,2 who live between Ikom and Ogoja along the Aya River,3 which connects to the Cross River to the south, women perform Agot masquerades with their bodies completely concealed under long, billowing cloth gowns and carved wooden headdresses (Figs. 5–6). These dance groups provide women with a form of entertainment, camaraderie, and opportunities for public ritual expression. They are not devoid of spiritual power and should not be written off as “mere” entertainment. Agot masquerades perform at funerals, New Yam festivals, and other celebrations. Membership may be linked to an age-grade or it may be open to anyone who is deemed socially respectable. In some villages you can become a member if your mother was a member; otherwise, you pay an initiation fee. The masquerade includes a female character and a male character, both performed by women.4 Carved wooden headdresses, or cap masks, are strapped to the top of the performers’ heads (Fig. 7) with ties that attach to the body. The cloth costume covers the face and body with only the women's hands and feet showing.In the Agot performances, attendants carry a metal trunk with the name of the group painted on it, and one masquerader (the female character) carries an imported white baby doll (see Fig. 6).5 The doll is a unique element because you would never see such a thing in a men's masquerade, where the dancer might carry a skull, a machete, or ritual insignia of some sort. In other contexts, women tend to dance with fans and mirrors. The doll may have been incorporated early on as a novel element signifying the specialness of this being a woman's dance. However, there is reason to believe that this element comes from the association between women's masquerades and Mami Wata, the female water spirit who appears throughout Africa and the diaspora (Drewal but who on of local women's Agot group in the of often associated with Mami They their group which and the to the masquerades carries a of that are often associated with Mami a and and Mami appears on an Agot as a woman with a However, that Ejagham women in Nigeria and Cameroon who use and masks with the Mami woman with long and a over her not the as Mami but as an Similarly, the Bakor not see this masquerade or the doll as being in related to Mami and that the doll is an example of a which from to one's through agricultural is in the of Agot in this has a of based upon and Agot masquerades a over women's which is a dance group that the of which women's to their of the dance association with a that women in the a and the back to the which in the of the the masquerades as if to women's to the of where there are Agot the group is called which reflects a that was important at the time of this is a woman's but in the the of it was transformed into a men's which a of While women may not have been to of this they a ritual to the upon of gendered masquerades that male In the a of Agot women about men's as and their to provide for their performances women an to their and to form of around women's they are not for entertainment. this example a can be used to on a in the history of how Agot masquerades into about Bakor women were to access the of masquerade that is more performed by Bakor at the of the century were that they women's masquerades that their and which are no longer These may be to women's performance traditions that the use of masks or they be to masquerades, which will be who is from the Bakor a time in the women for the to wear masquerades, for which they to pay some on how this that they may have a women's masquerade or it have through a of women's Similarly, local has many of Agot from this same Agot perform in the of and that the masquerade was from the how the women how it was they performed back and that it about because women that if female women carry a That same of around these women's performances continues that may have inspired women to a masquerade in the was a in traditional the masquerades, which been or the to be or In the process of the masquerades that within a new in the by of oil was also a to new masquerade were many masquerade to the international in this their women's masquerade to a in Calabar and the this continues to be a of for the may also have been by other of women's masquerades in the the west of the Bakor on the other of the Cross River, is an ethnic group as where women been by their local in to perform the men's masquerade The of these women's masquerades that one may have the but to in which the the Bakor women not a masquerade from like the they may have from Agot masquerades to a group of masquerades that from the masquerades with by and in this the masquerade and which is a of the as a of Agot within the broader of masquerades that that women the female that male performances in Calabar rely upon to A broader understanding of these in masquerades throughout the region in with warrior dances and their association with skin-covered masks and women's masquerade, appears the to the of the that a in the of women, and of the who was in in skin-covered masks, that the cap is the of a women with a but does not provide I an in the of in that was to Agot in that the women other women to to (Fig. The by has a like an Agot which covers the In the costume only to the and the face was covered by a white that the dancer I was told that they dance it open was women's masquerade in that called which a both male and female The female a to me that the is with the female of because follows women's masquerades the as a to the women's masquerade, which was to one that women's masquerades are not is Considering that women to dance Agot and and that these masquerades are at to think of as And if you allow for a more of masquerade, the that these are not with the of women masquerades in the more women are also rituals whereby their bodies are In Ikom and into a masquerade in which the woman's face is not concealed as in a woman dances with an carved headdress that on top of her with and her face to be In at women with a that includes an of Mami with a (Fig. which was in the I was told that the of was to perform at the of a and all the female from the their not been However, they also the they used for In part of their dance they use to as if they were a across a river to carry a I that this is a to a male Leopard ritual, the of women's and men's ritual in a dual-gendered ritual the Bakor not perform the masquerade, they which is by and dancing in the and the of Through women the power to and to the associations throughout the While they not use a costume or a it has been that the of or the transformation associated with the power of the female body may form of masquerade to with which are to it can be In women have been to their and reveal their to many this can be to as by the a in I the women at a in of the at The church may have been at that as a to these women were by this or by the who to early as not to The ritual with dancing and around a The women in they to they mean that should be of the of and that throughout many Cross River The of with some women a of that through to These were special women who the of The by all of the women was to the to other women to the church for a woman through the that how the have different of spirit and I understood this to be a act toward an that has been at with gender women's of and performances acts of for the of the community or for the women of an for a woman who not a and a In they because a of some of which the same time in to a to the of In in the of the of the of a it was that may have been addition to these local acts, there are several the century of women and dancing in states of as part of a reaction to the of and upon women's the the the of in (see and These ritual strategies that women and their to may have to women to masquerades of their to flesh and spirit as they into women's ritual performances that involve masks to local but it also that of women and masking is more And what can about women and masking from the How masks and of gender from the hinterland of the Cross River are as In the I at Cross River culture in Cuba, not to elaborate on women's masquerades and ritual are to ask the women's rituals to you travel, what you is more important than what you who in both the Cross River and Cuba, that women's associations not the of the However, the much male association Ékpè/Mgbè Society) not only the to Cuba but into a of through rituals, and masquerades that in a form that is to anyone with the Cross River region and This was in Cuba by the of of to the of or aid The Abakuá is a aid that was in the and in the of and in the Cross River region, where men's power does not women, in Cuba women's ritual is not in to the the symbolic use of the female body and the spirit more important within the of ritual knowledge in Abakuá in Cuba, it an to and that were through and as masquerades were and or into and Abakuá masquerade are as (Figs. in the masquerade often is mother of the also the name of a women's association in Cameroon in the of the to be the of the Leopard In this women's ritual to Cuba if women's performances associations meanings associated with of for the Leopard and its masquerades in Africa the that their knowledge women's power at the same time it women from that The of the Leopard is to have a woman to the river to water in her a that like a a which was away by In Cuba, the woman is as In some is and her skin to a signifying the of female of and on new in the that was to be and not is to be the of where men's associations such as the Leopard the symbolic power of the female body, there is a ritual where women also have over the associated with the female body in ritual The same is not in there is no female component of Abakuá in Cuba, the female Belkis Ayón (1967–1999) many that respond to the of this male which become increasingly in Cuban Ayón was part of a of female whose to a broader in light of in Cuba and in the The and of her to the of Abakuá rituals bodily forms is her short which was short by was but left a body of that to many about gender within the ritual of and reinscribing the female body, with Ayón appears as a white with no In Fig. is and an by that are to women's masquerades and power in women have been from rituals, their bodies have been by the male Abakuá use of for was not a was a much like the the study and representation of Abakuá rituals was as in that into an Abakuá Cuba, Abakuá were than in Africa or into a that was all and a to the and While has been of revealing the of the this is part of the of women who and be Ayón strategies to of the associated with the female body and is of male understood the to bodily knowledge from a female the of this article, there is more to be written about and the male body, such as how Abakuá have signs drawn on their bodies as a of an masquerade (Fig. that a on the Abakuá body, Moreover, important to that the symbolic of Abakuá masquerades the ritual is a long history of in public in as as more In a new these which a to Africa that is no longer part of in to Africa in to Calabar Carnival, where they were dancing along a which that have been inscribed and within Carnival, which in and is as “the biggest street party in Africa,” is unique the many international in and in that it appears in a a Caribbean diaspora or Caribbean I have written about how Caribbean culture returns to Africa on a with the of the being the transatlantic slave Calabar for the an to the identity of the While masquerade traditions to Africa in their Caribbean traditional African masquerades have been absent from Calabar except for the in of Nigerian masquerade dancing their Cuban who the with their Abakuá masquerade This was by who this in in the of of the Leopard The between these masquerades Nigerian and the between Cross River culture and the that the Leopard has a masquerade around the same time as Calabar Carnival, but does not in the a of is on the female body, and local with group dances in or associated with woman's ritual seclusion in the “fattening at in of the that dance is because of the as as the designs painted on the skin, coiffures, and While the costumes have been for (Fig. the dance has with inspired dance significantly more women (Fig. some women in the where they are left to navigate of and In the early of Calabar Carnival, the of international and seldom While Calabar is a to other international the female dress has become more with the importation of costumes from (Fig. This has become a topic that has amplified by in the of the includes of women at Calabar many of the are the from in other of the where individuals can the of than is in This of reflects of many that are to the and on a a that it of away from the church in the to the for and spirit and flesh in to be born again also be to have the for Carnival. participants in are active who see no between their and their for to the to the unique in masquerades the Calabar is by such as the and and the (Fig. who is an elaborate in the to Carnival. The a in a along with the of a a and a The is a of the Calabar which is by the The in with that of traditional gender and the of traditional dance forms at the same time that it reflects global about women's perform traditional such as before in for gowns (Fig. who the which to the ritual seclusion of the how the traditional and This of is like the between and the church or the women's that women's of the the of Carnival, women to a new ritual where they navigate complex systems of power as they perform new While the meaning of the female body in ritual that male systems of women perform in flesh and in spirit to physically and psychologically this global can that more than the of what they are women are clearly dancing in to where they are and not where they have And to this a more of

Art · Biology · Fishery · Flesh · African history and culture studies · Caribbean and African Literature and Culture · Colonialism, slavery, and trade

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