Bamum

Bamum
Author: Christraud Geary
Publisher: 5Continents
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2011-09-01
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9788874395736

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, artists working for the royal court of Bamum, in Cameroon, created elaborate bead-covered thrones and stools, wooden sculptures, masks in human and animal form, architectural carvings, and fine objects in bronze, ivory, and clay. This book focuses on the history, iconography, and meaning of these royal arts and looks at Western collectors who were fascinated by King Ibrahim Njoya (ruled 1886/7 to 1931) and the splendor of the royal court. Visual and written sources--including testimony by King Njoya and his courtiers, and extensive archival records--cast light on the strategies of a monarch who allowed visitors to acquire these arts to enhance the kingdom's reputation in distant Europe. The history of Bamum arts thus offers unique perspectives on African creativity and ingenuity, and European ways of collecting.

Royal Art of Benin

Royal Art of Benin
Author: Kate Ezra
Publisher: Metropolitan Museum of Art
Total Pages: 346
Release: 1992
Genre: Art
ISBN: 0870996339

Tantalizing trivia. this Hitler, spoiling everything?"

Culture and Customs of Cameroon

Culture and Customs of Cameroon
Author: John Mukum Mbaku Esq.
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 285
Release: 2005-06-30
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0313027366

Cameroon, in Central Africa, has been called Africa in miniature. It is characterized by exceptional social and ethnic diversity, with more than 250 ethnicities now forming five major regional-culture groupings. This volume is the first to encapsulate Cameroon's rich indigenous and modern customs and traditions in depth. The narrative emphasizes those aspects that define its modern nation, its peoples, the unique societies, their institutions, and various lifestyles. The origins of Cameroon's diverse culture are traced back to the various ethnic groups and languages as well as the influence of European colonialism, Christianity, Islam, and other external factors, including globalization. In each topical chapter, examples from ethnic groups are presented to give some sense of the variety of experiences. Cameroon has had a turbulent and eventful modern history with German, English, and French incursions, and students and general readers will be able to understand the current struggle for democracy post independence. The history colors the substantial coverage of the many topics examined, from education, to marriage and women's roles, sports, and holidays, daily life, the arts, and much more. This volume will stand as the definitive, accessible introduction to Cameroon and will be essential for building a well-rounded Africa collection.

The Art of the Bambui Kingdom (Western Grassfields, Cameroon)

The Art of the Bambui Kingdom (Western Grassfields, Cameroon)
Author: Mathias Fubah Alubafi
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 130
Release: 2014-03-26
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1443858803

Written as part of the Bambui Museum and Ecotourism Project (BMEP), this stunningly illustrated book introduces readers to the history of the Bambui fondom in the western Grassfields of Cameroon, and presents an exhaustive interpretation of the artistic and cultural heritage of the fondom. Initially conceived as part of an initiative launched in 2001 by Centro Orientamento Educativo, an Italian NGO, aimed at creating museums in some palaces of the Cameroon Grassfields, the book serves as a pilot endeavour towards addressing problems associated with antiques and other cultural assets such as theft and the illegal traffic of objects, the exploitation of poor fondoms by African art dealers and researchers from the West, and the lack of education about the different ways and means the fondoms could employ to transform these resources to the benefit of all. For anyone aspiring to learn about the rich and diverse art of Bambui, in particular, and the western Grassfields as a whole, this book will prove useful, especially since it is written by someone who has lived, and is still living, the Bambui experience.

Contesting Art

Contesting Art
Author: Jeremy MacClancy
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 210
Release: 2020-08-27
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1000323854

Art is a major political weapon of our times. Today, peoples around the world use art to boost their own identity and to attack the ways others represent them. At a time of increasing intercultural exchange, art has become a primary means through which groups reinforce their challenged sense of culture.This pioneering book breaks with the tradition of the anthropology of art as the depoliticized study of aesthetics in exotic settings. Transcending artificial distinctions between the West and the Rest, it examines the increasingly significant relations among art, identity and politics in the modern world.Among the themes investigated by the contributors: - how African painters undermine racist stereotypes yet remain dominated by the Western art market - the role of anthropology museums in the perpetuation of the Western market in 'tribal art' - the internal and external political disputes underlying the 'repatriation' of cultural property.

The Royal Arts of Africa

The Royal Arts of Africa
Author: Suzanne P. Blier
Publisher: Prentice Hall
Total Pages: 272
Release: 1998-01
Genre: Africa, Sub-Saharan
ISBN: 9780134402079

For use in an undergraduate or graduate course in African Art; also suitable as a supplementary reading for art history surveys. Lavishly illustrated, this historically grounded text draws together key traditions from West, Central, Eastern and Southern Africa to present an informative and captivating survey of the most important royal arts in the great sub-Saharan African kingdoms. Exploring the diverse ways that African rulers employed art and architecture to define individual and state identity, it provides an overview of the major themes in royal African art and discusses what these arts reveal about the nature of kingship.

Cameroon

Cameroon
Author: Ben West
Publisher: Bradt Travel Guides
Total Pages: 278
Release: 2011
Genre: Travel
ISBN: 1841623539

A thoroughly updated edition of the most in-depth guide available to Cameroon, a country home to ancient tribal kingdoms, colorful trading towns, 'pygmy' hunting camps, and endangered lowland gorillas.

Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Cameroon

Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Cameroon
Author: Mark Dike DeLancey
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 831
Release: 2019-06-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 1538119684

Cameroon is a land of much promise, but a land of unfulfilled promises. It has the potential to be an economically developed and democratic society but the struggle to live up to its potential has not gone well. Since independence there have been only two presidents of Cameroon; the current one has been in office since 1982. Endowed with a variety of climates and agricultural environments, numerous minerals and substantial forests, and a dynamic population, this is a country that should be a leader of Africa. Instead, we find a country almost paralyzed by corruption and poor management, a country with a low life expectancy and serious health problems, and a country from which the most talented and highly educated members of the population are emigrating in large numbers. To all of this is recently added a serious terrorism problem, Boko Haram, in the north, a separatist movement in the Anglophone west, refugee influxes in the north and east, and bandits from the Central African Republic attacking eastern villages. This fifth edition of Historical Dictionary of the Republic of Cameroon contains a chronology, an introduction, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 300 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about the Republic of Cameroon.

Plundering Africa's Past

Plundering Africa's Past
Author: Peter Ridgway Schmidt
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Total Pages: 302
Release: 1996-08-22
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780253210548

"An important book at a time when the booming illicit trade in African antiquities and the despoiling of some of the continent's prime archeological sites generate little concern in the art world." --Foreign Affairs "This benchmark publication challenges all of us to be part of the solution. Plundering Africa's Past cannot help but raise the level of discourse and consciousness about the looting problem, what needs to be done to stop it and about the relationship between Africa and the West." --African Studies Review "Plundering Africa's Past should be required reading for all archaeologists, historians, art historians, museum curators, and government officials involved in the cultural heritages of Africa, as well as most countries and continents with a disappearing past." --H-Net Book Review African government and museum officials, members of international agencies, academics, and journalists examine why the African past is disappearing at a rate perhaps unmatched in any other part of the world. Each looks at the international network of looting and trafficking from a different perspective. Here, for the first time, is a frank indictment of African contributions to the problem--voiced by the distinguished African essayists. The book concludes with a discussion of specific steps that could halt the disappearance of Africa's art and antiquities.